


Honour, Courage, and Sacrifice

by Chibi_Beaver



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: 74th Hunger Games, 75th Hunger Games, Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Anakin Skywalker-centric, Angst, Bo-Katan and Satine are not sisters in this, Caretaking, District 12 (Hunger Games), F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, Human C-3PO (Star Wars), Human R2-D2 (Star Wars), Hunger Games-Typical Death/Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Interviews, Mainly Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Minor Foxiyo, Minor Obitine, Other perspectives but mostly Anakin's, Rebellion, Sheev Palpatine Being An Asshole, Slow Burn, The Capitol (Hunger Games), Torture, Training
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:07:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 53,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28375143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibi_Beaver/pseuds/Chibi_Beaver
Summary: Anakin and Padmé are reaped for the 74th hunger games but they soon find themselves involved in something much bigger(Will be updated once or twice a week)
Relationships: Ahsoka Tano & Asajj Ventress, Anakin Skywalker & Asajj Ventress, Anakin Skywalker & Shmi Skywalker, C-3PO & Anakin Skywalker, CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo & CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo & CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & CT-6116 | Kix, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo & CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & CT-7567 | Rex, CT-21-0408 | Echo & Hardcase & Ahsoka Tano, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & Ahsoka Tano, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & Anakin Skywalker, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & CT-5385 | Tup, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & CT-782 | Hevy, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & Hardcase, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives & Shaak Ti, CT-5597 | Jesse & CT-6116 | Kix, CT-5597 | Jesse & CT-7567 | Rex, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano & Asajj Ventress, CT-7567 | Rex & Anakin Skywalker, Cliegg Lars & Anakin Skywalker, Cliegg Lars/Shmi Skywalker, Dooku & Asajj Ventress, Hardcase & CT-5385 | Tup, Hardcase & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Hondo Ohnaka & Anakin Skywalker, Numa & Waxer (Star Wars), Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Asajj Ventress, Obi-Wan Kenobi & CT-7567 | Rex, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze (minor), Owen Lars/Beru Whitesun (Mentioned), Padmé Amidala & Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala & C-3PO, Padmé Amidala & Numa (Star Wars), Padmé Amidala & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala & Satine Kryze, Padmé Amidala & Shmi Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, R2-D2 & Anakin Skywalker, Riyo Chuchi/CC-1010 | Fox, Satine Kryze & Anakin Skywalker, Sheev Palpatine & Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 17
Kudos: 44





	1. The Reaping

**Author's Note:**

> So I was inspired by "Ever in our favour" by katierosefun. I love hunger games and I love clone wars 
> 
> I was going to post this a few days ago but I decided I'd rather this be the first thing I post in 2021 so I hope you enjoy it!

Reaping day once again. Every year each of the districts are to produce one male and one female between the ages of 12 and 18 for an event known as the Hunger Games. These tributes were selected at a reaping held in each district

Anakin was preparing to put on his best clothes. It was the one day of the year anyone dressed up in District 12. Anakin put on a plain collared shirt, it was a pastel blue colour. In fact, it was Owen’s shirt. Owen died in the hunger games 4 years ago in two weeks. Owen was 17 when he was reaped, Anakin is currently 17. He looks around the room which still has two beds. He once shared this room with Owen. Anakin offered to sell it for money but Cliegg was adamant that the bed not be sold. Otherwise, the room was quite plain, a given considering the extreme poverty the majority of District 12 lives in.

Anakin walks out of the room he once shared with Owen to find Shmi and Cliegg waiting for him.

“You look handsome my boy,” Shmi said as she fixed Anakin’s collar.

“C’mon, it’s almost time to go,” Cliegg said unenthusiastically as they left the house right as the alarm blared, signalling that it was time to go to the reaping.

Anakin walked up to the registration station for everyone between 12 and 18. There was one side for the boys and the other for the girls. The line moved relatively slow but Anakin finally got to the front of the line where the peacekeeper there pricked his finger and set it down on a sheet of paper. He scanned it to confirm Anakin's identity and then told Anakin to go ahead.

There were rows upon rows of people, each divided by age and gender. Anakin eventually found the one for 17-year-old boys and walked into the row as he joined the others. Shmi and Cliegg were in the very back, where the parents and other adults from the districts stood, waiting to see which children will likely go to their deaths. Going to the reaping was mandatory by law. The only exceptions were if someone couldn't physically get there for example, if they were on death's door. Otherwise, everyone of all ages had to go. If they didn't, there were severe consequences.

District 12 doesn’t have a good track record for hunger games victories. Only one person had ever won before, Obi-Wan Kenobi. He sometimes went out into public but he was rather quiet. Today was no different as he went up onto the stage where Satine was waiting for everyone to get signed in before getting started on her speech. Obi-Wan stole a glance at her before sitting in his chair next to the mayor. Satine was wearing a light purple knee-length dress with matching makeup. Her earrings are large and white, matching the accents on her dress. Her hair was also done up with a fancy indigo coloured headdress.

After everyone is signed in, Satine starts with a video from the capital that is shown every year.

_“War, terrible war. Widows, orphans, motherless children. This was the uprising that shaped this country’s history. Thirteen districts rebelled against the country that fed them, loved them and protected them. Brother turned on brother until nothing remained. Then came the peace but peace comes at a cost. When the traitors were finally defeated, we swore as a nation that no conflict shall tear us apart and we would never know such violent treason again. So it was decreed that each year, the districts of Panem would offer up two tributes, one male and one female between the ages of 12 and 18 to fight to the death in a pageant of great honour, courage and sacrifice. The lone victor will get to live a life of peace and comfort, bathed in riches and will serve as a reminder of our generosity, and forgiveness. This is how we remember the past and how we safeguard our future,”_ said the voice of President Palpatine over the hologram.

“I just love that,” Satine said after she mouthed the words to the video. She paused before saying “and now it is time to pick the tributes. As always, ladies first.”

Satine walked over to the bowl filled to the brim with entries containing the name of every female aged 12 to 18 at least once, often more than once. Anakin’s name was in the boys pot a total of 18 times. Six times automatically because he is 17, and 12 more times because of tesserae. His family is so poor that he needs to take extra food for himself, his mother and Cliegg but the catch is that he puts his name in once per person, per year and Anakin’s been taking tesserae since he was 13.

Satine had picked out a slip and walked back to the microphone. She looked to be having a hard time walking to the mic in those high heels. Anakin stifled a chuckle as Satine began speaking again.

“The female tribute from District 12 is, Padmé Amidala!”

Anakin was shocked. He had a crush on Padmé from the time he was 13. The boy next to Anakin looked just as shocked. Anakin couldn’t quite think of the boy’s name, Clovin or Clovis or something like that. He was close with Padmé from what Anakin saw at school.

Padmé emerged from the row of 17-year-old girls and was escorted by peacekeepers up to the stage. Although she looked like she was from the seam like Anakin, she was actually from the merchant section of 12, the richer section. People from the seam generally tend to have brown hair while Merchant section residents had blonde hair.

Padmé looked to be in shock as she was brought onto the stage, as any kid would be.

“Now for the boys,” Satine said as she walked over the equally full pot of male names. She stands over it before picking one out and taking it back to the mic. She opens it and reads the name.

“The male tribute from District 12 is, Anakin Skywalker!”

Anakin didn’t gasp but he was shocked all the same. He could hear his mother scream and glanced around to see another mother try to calm her down. That woman looked like the mother of one of the tributes from 12 last year, one who had died. Shmi allowed the other woman to comfort her. Anakin could feel the stares of the boys in his row as he walked out of the row where peacekeepers awaited him. They escorted him to the stage where Satine, Padmé, Obi-Wan and the mayor were awaiting him.

“Here we are, the tributes for the 74th Hunger Games from District 12!” Satine said. She then whispered to the tributes “come now shake hands.”

Anakin looked at Padmé who looked back at Anakin before they shook each other’s hands.

* * *

Immediately after they were led to two separate rooms where family and friends could come visit before the tributes were whisked away to the Capitol. Shmi and Cliegg walked into the room the second they were allowed. Anakin heard a peacekeeper say to them “you have 3 minutes.”

Shmi immediately went over to hug her son. Cliegg stood close by. Anakin and Cliegg were not particularly close. Cliegg came into his and his mother’s lives when Anakin was 7 and although Cliegg raised him from there, they were never really close with one another. Anakin could tell Shmi was crying, he could feel one of her tears making his shirt wet. When Shmi finally let go, she said, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too mom,” Anakin said before Cliegg walked up to Anakin and said, “stay alive.”

“Thanks,” Anakin said before Cliegg pulled him into a hug. This was one of the only times Cliegg ever hugged Anakin. It felt foreign but Anakin hugged back before the peacekeepers returned.

“It’s time to go.”

“I promise I’ll try to win,” Anakin said before Shmi and Cliegg were escorted out.

After a few more minutes, Satine came to collect Anakin and Padmé and they got into a car to go to the train station. The two tributes were rather quiet.

“It’ll be wonderful, all kinds of wonderful food, crystal chandeliers and you won’t even feel a thing until we arrive in the Capitol in less than 2 days,” Satine said, trying to break the awkward silence to no avail. Neither tribute seemed amused by Satine's poor attempt at small talk.

When they got onto the train, Anakin and Padmé were both taken by how luxurious it looked. It was nothing like any place in 12. Anakin and Padmé took a seat in two chairs near the window before the train started moving.

“200 miles per hour you can barely feel a thing, isn't that wonderful?” Satine said. Neither Anakin nor Padmé said a word to each other or Satine.

“I’ll go find Obi-Wan, he’s probably in his room,” Satine said before she left.

Neither Anakin nor Padmé said a word to one another. Anakin couldn’t help but steal glances at her. She was so beautiful. Her hair was in one braid that draped down her shoulder and her eyes were a matching brown. Her dress was a similar colour to Anakin's shirt and it felt to her knees. She had been crying and he couldn’t blame her.

“Have you ever met him? Obi-Wan?” Padmé eventually asked.

“No,” Anakin replied.

“He comes into my dad’s store sometimes but I’ve never met him,” Padmé replied.

Padmé’s father owns a grocer so it’s no wonder Obi-Wan shows up sometimes. Mostly richer people went to grocer’s although sometimes there were things people from the seam could afford but only as a treat. Anakin mostly eats at the Hob where food is sold much cheaper. The Hob is an illegal market but the peacekeepers usually turn a blind eye to it. Some peacekeepers would even show up on their days off. Anakin sometimes sold his illegally hunted game to them. They seemed to love grouse and deer. Anakin usually traded his hunting surplus and his mother would trade milk and cheese from their goat, often for other items like bread, potatoes, carrots, chicken, a bowl of stew, etc. 

Obi-Wan soon walked in but Satine was not with him.

“So, when do we start?” Padmé asked.

Obi-Wan didn’t reply.

“She asked you a question. You’re our mentor you’re supposed to help us,” Anakin said.

“Give me a minute,” Obi-Wan said before then saying “Uhh try not to die.”

“I think anyone with even a hint of a brain cell knows that,” Padmé said. 

“Hang on, let me get something to eat,” Obi-Wan said before moving to get up but Anakin made sure he stayed and actually gave them advice by placing his arm between the space between the chairs. When Obi-Wan attempted to move Anakin remained firmly in place.

“Ok, we’re gonna play that game,” Obi-Wan said in a snarky tone. He then said, “it’s gonna take more than that to make sure no one kills you.”

“So, what will it take?” Padmé firmly asked.

“A weapon and survival skills at the very least” Obi-Wan replied. With Satine not in the room, Anakin felt it was safe to say “I hunt for food sometimes. I know how to use a weapon and how to survive in the woods.”

“Have you ever been in the woods overnight?” Obi-Wan asked.

“No,” Anakin replied.

“Then you likely don’t know how to survive in the woods at night. I know damn well seam kids only hunt in the daylight, dusk at the latest.”

“But it’s still a start,” Anakin said.

Obi-Wan couldn’t fault him for that.

“What about you?” Obi-Wan said turning to Padmé.

“My mom has taught me the basics of a bow and arrow, she grew up in the seam,” Padmé said. That explains why Padmé is from the richer merchant section of 12 but has brown hair like those from the Seam like Anakin.

“Ok, so we’re off to a good start, better than last year” Obi-Wan scoffed. Although neither Padmé nor Anakin appreciated the joke, they never said anything else.

* * *

When Anakin went into his room on the train later that night, he cried. He had been holding it in all day but knowing he may be dead soon and may never get to see his mother again hurt. He grabbed the sheet while crying and noticed it was satin. He had never felt anything made of satin before. He decided to get into bed and try to get some sleep before the next morning, although even this proved difficult. He tossed and turned as he tried to get comfortable. The satin sheets were cold as opposed to the sheets from his bed back in 12 which were made of a much warmer material. It took him hours before he finally fell asleep.

Anakin woke up the next morning, hoping this nightmare would be over and that he was back in 12 but that was not the case. He was still on this damn train. Anakin groaned as he got out of bed and put on the same outfit he wore yesterday, with his mother’s teardrop stain on the shoulder. He then walked back into the main train car.

Obi-Wan was mentoring Padmé over breakfast when Anakin entered the train car they were in. He noticed Satine doing her makeup while Obi-Wan and Padmé were talking. He noticed Obi-Wan stealing glances at Satine. He had been doing that the entire ride. He may have been doing that at the reaping but Anakin didn’t pay a lot of attention. Anakin sat to the table and asked: “what’s going on?”

“About time you joined us,” Obi-Wan said sarcastically before saying “I was giving some lifesaving advice.”

“He was saying how you shouldn’t make a huge fire because that could attract tributes towards you,” Padmé recounted.

“Correct! Though the real way to win the games is to get people to like you,” Obi-Wan said.

“What?” Anakin said, in disbelief as he sat down next to Padmé.

“Not what you were expecting? If people like you, they may sponsor you and rich capitol citizens love giving their favourite tributes gifts in the arena. Say you’re cold, or starving, or thirsty, some food, some water or even some matches may just save your life. Most tributes won their games with the help of sponsor gifts. I was gifted a canteen of fresh water when I was at my worst and there were no freshwater sources in the arena. I rationed it out and I’m sitting here now.”

“How do you get sponsors?” Anakin asked

“Can you pass the jam?” Obi-Wan asked.

Anakin wanted to know how to get sponsors now, Obi-Wan’s jam could wait.

“How do you get sponsors?” Anakin said more firmly.

“I’m getting to that; mentoring is pretty damn difficult when all your tributes keep dying!." Obi-Wan sighed before saying, "pass the jam.”

Anakin refused and as Obi-Wan decided to reach for it, Anakin stuck his knife through the table, startling him, although he was somewhat impressed too.

From her spot, Satine yelled, **“that is mahogany!”**

Padmé noticed out the window that they were approaching the capitol.

“Look! It’s so massive!” Padmé said as she walked up to the window. Both Anakin and Obi-Wan look at her and then back at each other.

Obi-Wan whispered “you should keep this,” as he pointed to the knife sticking out of the mahogany table.

As they pulled into the Capitol's train station Padmé smiled and waved to the people and Anakin soon joined her on Obi-Wan’s advice to get people to like him.


	2. Tribute Parade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin and Padmé arrive in the Capitol where they are immediately prepared for the tribute parade, where they are shown off to potential sponsors!

When the train stops, peacekeepers come aboard and escort the tributes off the train and into a set of grey rooms. Padmé and Anakin were put into different rooms when people came in and began to work on the two.

Anakin was getting stay hairs on his eyebrows plucked and he was getting hosed down, ensuring any district dirt was removed. He then was taken to a sink where he got his hair washed.

“DIY haircut?” one of the people asked.

“What’s it to you?” Anakin replied.

“No, no, it works on you,” the person said. Anakin subtly rolled his eyes.

Soon after, they left, and Anakin awaited the stylist. A short man then walks in. He has grey hair with blue streaks that is swooped to the side. Other than that he is not very extravagant with his fashion choices.

“I’m sorry this happened to you,” he said.

“Everyone so far has congratulated me,” Anakin said.

“I don’t see the point in that and neither do some of my colleagues. Let’s get to the point, I’m Artoo. The chariot parade is tonight. Usually, we dress people in clothes from their district.”

“We’re coal miners,” Anakin said.

“I don’t want to do that. The other stylist for 12, Threepio, and I came up with a solution. What do you do with coal?”

“Burn it” Anakin replied.

“Exactly, coal-black jumpsuits and fake fire,” Artoo said.

Anakin was visibly impressed.

“I’ll take that as a yes” Artoo said before saying “let’s get you styled up.”

When they were done, Anakin’s hair had been blow-dried and slicked back, he also had a black latex jumpsuit that was coated in a weird material.

“That’s so the fake fire will stick and so you don’t feel a thing,” Artoo said as he took them to Threepio and Padmé.

Threepio had platinum blonde hair with gold sparkles thrown around. He also wore gold eyeliner. Padmé had the same jumpsuit but her hair was done in braids leading into a bun.

“I’m almost done Artoo, you know it takes me longer because I get the female tributes,” Threepio said.

“I know Threepio” Artoo replied as Threepio finished up Padmé’s hair.

“She looks amazing!” Artoo said.

“Oh I know,” Threepio replied with a smile.

They then went to the chariots. Each chariot was being pulled by black horses and each chariot is also black, probably meant to put as much focus on the tributes as possible. Anakin almost fell off when he stepped on, Padmé quietly chuckled at this before getting on herself.

“Make sure you hold on when the chariot starts moving,” Threepio said.

“Yes, there is no back on these things so if you don’t hold on, you’ll fall right off! We've seen enough tributes fall off” Artoo said, reiterating what Threepio said. Threepio then held up the fake fire stick and coated their jumpsuits.

“When I press this button, you’ll appear as if you’re on fire!” Threepio said, “if anyone asks, it was real fire” Threepio continued.

“This is our queue,” Obi-Wan said as he heard a faint chime, signifying that mentors and stylists had to leave.

As the District 12 chariot rolled out, everything seemed normal. Padmé waved at the crowd while Anakin smirked at them as if pretending to be happy. They were wearing the coal-black costumes which to the crowds, appeared to have the same premise as the other outfits, industries from the districts such as the outfits from District 4, fishing, and from District 7, lumber. The tributes from those districts were dressed as fishermen and trees respectively. Threepio was behind the scenes holding a button that he would press when they got to the middle of the boulevard. When they got to the middle of the boulevard, Padmé and Anakin took each other’s hands and lifted them just as Threepio pushed the button. The fake flames appeared behind them and the crowd cheered extra loud, amazed at what they just saw. 

The boulevard seemed so long when they saw what looked like endless amounts of people in the stands on the side of the main route. The crowds were throwing roses at the tributes and Padmé managed to catch one which she passed to Anakin before she caught another one. Anakin placed the rose in his mouth which caused the cheers to become even louder. They were the talk of the Capitol after this.

Anakin and Padmé smiled at one another as the chariot approached the end of the boulevard, in front of a raised platform with the Capitol’s symbol engraved on it. President Palpatine stood on this platform, preparing to give a short speech welcoming the tributes to the Capitol. Palpatine was not too extravagant in comparison to the people Anakin and Padmé saw in the stands. He had white hair and wore a red suit with a white rose attached to it.

“Welcome Tributes!” Palpatine said in a bellowing voice.

“We welcome you and we honour the great sacrifices required to get you here. Most importantly, may the odds be ever in your favour during what I’m sure is a perilous time. Know that we appreciate the hardships that you have gone through and thank you for your sacrifices.”

After Palpatine finished, the chariots rode away, into the basement of the training complex where the tributes got off their chariots and were greeted by mentors and stylists.

“That was amazing!” Satine said in a singsong voice.

“Let’s not talk too much about the fire,” Artoo said, noticing other tributes looking at the District 12 tributes, in particular the tributes from District 2 and the boy from 4.

* * *

Anakin and Padmé follow Obi-Wan and Satine into the training complex.

“Every district gets a different floor. Since you are District 12, you get the penthouse. How Sweet!” Satine says as they enter the floor.

It’s huge, much bigger than Anakin’s Seam house and even Padmé’s Merchant Section house. There’s a giant grey plush couch around a hologram projector. The dining room is lofted with green chairs with black designs, almost like a snake. There are Avoxes around the entire main area, a horrifying concept considering they’re servants with their tongues cut out. Anakin and Padmé’s rooms look similar with gold comforters standing out the most. On the nightstand lay a remote where the window can be changed from no background. Forest, bustling city, beachside, etc. It’s the most luxurious place either had ever been in.

Dinner was served about an hour later, after both tributes had a shower and changed into their pajamas, courtesy of the Capitol. They were made of blue satin and felt cool on his skin. "How did anyone in the Capitol stay warm in the winter with these?" Anakin muttered to himself. When Anakin got to the dining table, everyone else was already there and the Avoxes were serving food. Avoxes were servants who had their tongues cut out. They were often from the Districts and usually became avoxes after committing a severe crime like treason or trying to leave their district without authorization. The only time anyone got authorization to leave their district was if they were a tribute or a mentor for the Hunger Games.

There was more food on the table than Anakin ate in a week back in 12. There were multiple baskets of bread, individual bowls with so many pieces of silverware that Anakin didn’t even know what half of them were supposed to be used for. Why does someone need 5 spoons of different sizes? Anakin thought as he sat down in front of one of the bowls, Padmé was right next to him. Anakin tried not to stare too much as he picked out a spoon to eat the stew with.

“It’s a lamb stew, Obi-Wan’s favourite,” Satine said before noticing Anakin use the wrong spoon.

“You need to use the soup spoon,” Satine said.

“Which one is the soup spoon?” Anakin asked.

Padmé pointed it out for him and looked up at Satine for validation of whether she pointed to the right one. Satine nodded as the meal continued.

“So tomorrow you will go to the training centre, don’t show your skills,” Obi-Wan said.

“Why not?” Anakin asked.

“Because, you don’t want to show the other tributes what you’re capable of, the first thing they’ll do is want to take you out during the crucial first hours and days of the games. You need to show your skills during your individual assessment a few days from now” Obi-Wan said.

“What’s the individual assessment for?” Padmé asked.

“It’s meant for a tribute to show their special skills and the gamemakers will give you a training score out of 12. It’s for sponsors to decide who they want to sponsor. They tend to sponsor likeable tributes with high training scores” Obi-Wan said.

“So if we’re clear, show skills to gamemakers but not the other tributes?” Anakin asked.

“Yes, careers will target you first and you don’t want that,” Obi-Wan reiterated.

“Careers?” Padmé asked.

“From 1, 2 and 4, they train for years and they win almost every year,” Obi-Wan said before getting interrupted by Satine.

“But they don’t get special treatment. I don’t even think they get to have dessert” Satine as she hails an avox.

“However, they can be arrogant, and they aren’t used to lack of food or water like people like us from 12. You need to exploit that in the arena,” Obi-Wan said.

Anakin took mental notes on that, trying not to be distracted by his beautiful district partner. Anakin had to peel his eyes off her so she wouldn’t notice.

As people begin to finish their main course, Satine pulls an avox over and whispers something along the lines of “can you bring us dessert?”

“Dessert?” Anakin whispered to Padmé, shocked that people have dessert.

“I know right? I’m pretty stuffed from the lamb stew,” Padmé replied.

“Oh, we always have dessert here in the capitol,” Satine said before some avoxes showed up. One was carrying bowls of ice cream with a cherry on top. The others were carrying bowls of toppings including chocolate chips, brownies bits, cookie bits, berries, bananas, candies, various flavours of syrups including chocolate, caramel, strawberry, hot fudge, blueberry, raspberry and blackberry, and fancy toppings like edible gold.

“Which spoon am I supposed to use?” Anakin asked, looking down at his other spoons.

“The sundae spoon,” Satine replied.

“And which one is that?” Anakin asked pointing at all his spoons.

“This one,” Satine said, pointing to the proper spoon.

“You’ll get used to it,” Obi-Wan said, earning a glare from Satine. Obi-Wan simply chuckled as he piled on toppings onto his sundae. Obi-Wan’s sundae contained some of the fruit but with hot fudge and chocolate chips. Anakin looked over at Padmé’s sundae, mostly fruit, particularly bananas, with the strawberry syrup. Satine’s was similar but she had edible gold, her Capitol palate was showing. Anakin picked brownie and cookie bits. He also had some strawberries and he picked the chocolate syrup to go on top. He had never seen chocolate in 12. It just wasn’t something most people there could afford. Neither was fruit.

After dinner, Anakin went to his bedroom. He used the remote on the nightstand to turn the window into a lush green forest. It reminded him of home and illegally hunting for food to feed his family. It was soothing having something to remind him of home while in the Capitol, as if he had much of a chance to come back from the arena. Anakin got into his bed. The sheets were silky. The texture was still a little foreign to him, but it started to become a better feeling than before. He noticed the training uniform on the chair in the corner. He assumed that’s what he had to put on in the morning. Anakin soon began to drift off to sleep in preparation for going to the training centre in the morning.

* * *

Anakin woke up about 8 hours later to Obi-Wan knocking at his door.

**“GET UP! TRAINING STARTS IN AN HOUR!”**

He then heard Obi-Wan walk away and say the same thing, likely to Padmé.

Anakin forced himself out of bed and put on the training uniform. It was a grey jumpsuit with red accents on the arms and legs. On each shoulder is his district number in a black square, “12”. Just another reminder that he is a tribute.

Anakin walked out of his room where avoxes were serving breakfast. Anakin rarely ate breakfast in 12 so this was a fairly new experience. The only recent occasion where he had eaten breakfast before this was on the train bound for the Capitol. There were plates upon plates of food at the table, despite only having a few people staying on their floor. The plates were stacked high with pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, fruit, waffles, toast, and hashbrowns. Way more than all of the people on this floor could eat. Anakin put some of the scrambled eggs, a sausage and a banana on his plate. He figured it would be a good idea to take advantage of the breakfast items before training. He noticed Padmé pick up some pancakes and poured some of the syrup on them. Anakin never even thought of that. Padmé then took a small bowl of berries. Obi-Wan and Satine soon joined the two tributes as they ate breakfast together.

After breakfast, Obi-Wan walked his tributes to the training centre.

“Don’t show your skills to the other tributes, remember that ok?” Obi-Wan said.

“Got it,” Anakin said. Padmé nodded to Obi-Wan, indicating that she understood too. The conversation immediately stopped when Obi-Wan noticed a male District 2 victor with a tribute. District 2 had more victors so each mentor only had one tribute as opposed to 12 which has 1 victor. Obi-Wan seemed to recognize the victor as immediately after the tributes went into the training centre they started to chat.


	3. The Training Center

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tributes undergo training for when they get into the arena

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's get this show on the road! 
> 
> (This was originally going to be two chapters but it wouldn't split nicely since there was too much where I originally wanted to split and not enough in the other half so its just one big chapter now haha) 
> 
> flashbacks are going to be a thing but it will be obvious (some lead-in, italics, and the lines before and after it)

The training center was huge and it was filled with weapons, mannequins with targets on them, a few survival stations, and some climbing ropes. There were also people stood around, seemingly for tributes to practice sparring with. All the tributes were stood around in a circle near the person who was clearly the training supervisor. Anakin looked around at the various tributes. There was a really young girl with 11 on her shoulder. The careers were the biggest of the tributes, there was a large boy who looked older than Anakin. He had to have been 18 for sure. Anakin seemed to be in the middle of the pack when it came to tribute size, although he was somewhat larger than average. All the careers were bigger than him and there was a slightly larger boy from 3.

“In 2 weeks, 23 of you will be dead, one of you will be alive. Who that is depends on how much attention you pay to the various stations over the next few days. Some ground rules first, no fighting each other, you’ll have plenty of time for that in the arena. There are 3 compulsory exercises, sparring, climbing, and fire-making. The rest is individual training. Everyone wants to grab a knife but don’t ignore the survival stations,” the supervisor said before allowing the tributes to go on with their day in the training center.

Most tributes, including Anakin and Padmé went to the compulsory sparring station. The District 1 female was the first in line. She made sure to show her skills. As did the other careers. Their intimidation tactic seemed to work, many of the other tributes were intimidated by them, especially those who were younger and/or smaller. Anakin could tell Padmé felt some sympathy for the girl from 11 who looked so small compared to the other tributes.

The District 11 girl did terribly during the sparring session, earning snickers from the careers. Padmé was next in the line. She picked up the training weapon. It was a stick with a dull point. Meant to not hurt the training center workers they were sparring with. Padmé was trying not to show her skills as per Obi-Wan’s advice but it was obvious that she was skilled to some extent and the careers took notice.

Anakin was no better at following Obi-Wan’s advice, the careers eyed him the whole time. He picked up the stick and eventually won against the training center employee when he landed a hit to the man’s side. After he stepped down from the station, Padmé whispered “they’re eyeing you” as she gestured to the careers.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Well, I doubt it’s a good thing” Padmé replied before moving to the fire station. Anakin decided to go to the climbing station. It looked like a set of monkey bars Anakin joined the back of the line, behind the girl from 7. She was much shorter, perhaps she was also really young, who knew? When it was finally her turn, she struggled to stay up onto the bars before she fell down on the mat below rather embarrassingly earning snickers from some of the other tributes.

Anakin was next. He climbed onto the bars and effortlessly climbed them and made it to the other side. Bless his upper arm strength but so much for not showing his skill though. Meanwhile, Padmé was pretending she was weaker than she actually was and doing what Obi-Wan said. Anakin went to the fire-making station so he could finish his compulsory exercises while he watched Padmé at the climbing station from afar. Anakin knew he needed to snap out of this, but he couldn’t seem to do it, no matter how hard he tried. Training together certainly wasn’t helping. Anakin managed to get a spark on the fire he was making while Padmé fell off the monkey bars. Anakin knew she was bluffing. When they were in elementary school, she was the queen of the monkey bars. Except those monkey bars were for play, not as practice for a death arena.

Once Anakin managed to start a fire, he was allowed to leave the fire-making station. He left almost as soon as Padmé started. Anakin couldn’t resist walking over when he noticed her hands were too high up on the stick.

“They’re supposed to be down here,” Anakin pointed out as he crouched down next to Padmé.

“Here?” Padmé quietly asked.

“Yea and just rub your hands together really fast for a while. It’ll hurt but that means it’s working” Anakin said.

“Thanks” Padmé said as Anakin left to deflect suspicion from other tributes.

Anakin needed to try out weapons if he was going to win the Hunger Games. He started at the bow and arrow station. Anakin never used a bow and arrow when hunting. He always used a spear of some sort. He didn’t like the feel very much and his aim was wonky. The only thing Anakin accomplished with the bow and arrow was almost cutting his arm up before the games even started and not showing his skills to the other tributes. Anakin then moved to the swords and knives. He saw the District 2 male at the swords but Anakin tried not to make eye contact with him as he moved towards the throwing knives.

Suddenly he heard clamoring near the swords.

 **“YOU TOOK MY SWORD!”** the District 2 boy yelled towards another boy. Anakin squinted but noticed what looked to be an 8 on his sleeve.

“No, I didn’t!" the District 8 boy shouted back but not as loud as the District 2 boy’s shouting.

 **“YES, YOU DID!”** the District 2 boy said as he lunged at the District 8 boy. The fight was quickly broken up. Anakin looked around the room and he noticed Padmé and the boy from 11 looking up at the ceiling and smiling. Anakin looked up too and noticed the young girl from 11 near the ceiling holding the sword with a devious smile on her face.

After everything had calmed down, Anakin went back to attempting the throwing knives but the knives were so small. This definitely wouldn’t be his weapon of choice. They were much better for someone smaller than himself. Anakin decided to move to a different station until the District 2 boy left the swords. Anakin decided to try the axes. He noticed a District 7 girl practicing with them, she seemed like a natural, probably because she’s from 7, whose industry is lumber. 

Anakin picked up the axe. He couldn’t believe how heavy it was. He noticed the target and decided to throw it. He missed by a long shot, multiple times, earning a snicker from the District 7 girl. So far, if he found no other weapon to work with, he could use an axe if he absolutely had to, although he would much prefer a spear. Anakin noticed the District 2 boy finally walk away from the swords. Anakin decided to walk over to the swords but just as he did, the District 2 boy noticed him and walked up to him.

“See this sword?” the boy sneered as he pointed to a specific sword on the left edge of the rack.

“Yea” Anakin replied, trying not to sound intimidated.

“It’s mine. Don’t touch it or I’ll gut you on the first day of the games.”

Anakin struggled to restrain himself. He simply said nothing as he walked past the boy and picked up a different sword. The boy looked at him weird but since Anakin didn’t pick up his sword, there wasn’t a problem. After the boy had left, Anakin muttered “your names not on it” in reference to the sword, hoping the boy didn’t hear him. Anakin began to play around with the sword as he tried to get a feel for it. It was good but did not feel great, especially not for in the arena. He began to feel frustrated; he knew he needed to find a good weapon for himself to use if he wanted to survive. He left the sword station as he approached the spears, he was hesitant to go over there because he already has some knowledge of spear type weapons due to hunting and he really was trying to follow Obi-Wan’s advice. He eventually got to the spear station where he found Padmé.

“Fancy seeing you here?” Anakin teased.

Padmé giggled quietly as she tried to throw a spear. She missed the center but did at least hit the outer edges of the target. As much as Anakin wanted to be proud of her, he knew that would not help much in the arena. Anakin decided to pick up a spear and try it out. It was thin and already felt nicer in his hand. It was different from the makeshift spears he made from tree branches back home but it wasn’t different in a bad way. He aimed and threw it with relative ease. He might have just found his weapon of choice for the arena, the spear. Not that he was really surprised by this. He picked up another one and threw it again, getting even closer to the center of the target than before. Anakin tried to be mindful not to show off with the spear too much, he used a similar weapon while hunting but it certainly wasn’t metal like the ones in the Capitol are.

* * *

_Anakin was new to hunting. Shmi was trying to teach Anakin how to use the bow and arrow but to no avail. She probably should’ve expected this from teaching a 6-year-old how to hunt. Anakin soon found a pointy stick in the woods and he threw it at a deer, hitting it in the chest. Shmi finished the deer off with her arrow before the two went over to inspect it. Anakin very nearly killed it with his sharpened stick._

_“Wow Ani, you almost killed it yourself,” Shmi said, pointing out where the stick landed on the deer._

_Anakin smiled and said, “are you proud?”_

_“Of course I am. That will be a useful skill someday” Shmi said, looking directly at her son. She saw no need to hide the reality of their situation from him, they were among the poorest in one of the poorest districts and their situation had only gotten worse since Anakin’s father died in the mines a few months prior._

* * *

Padmé looked over at Anakin who seemed to effortlessly throw the spear into the center of the target. Anakin made sure there were no careers before teaching Padmé how to use the spear. Anakin knew this probably wasn’t a good idea but he couldn’t help himself. He positioned himself behind Padmé and placed the spear in her hand. Padmé got a feel for the spear in both her hands before deciding which hand felt better.

“Good, now lift your arm and throw as hard as you can. I’ll show you again” Anakin quietly said as he made sure Padmé watched him carefully as he took a spear and swiftly thrown it at the target. Padmé tried her best to replicate that movement. Her shot wasn’t as precise as his, but it was better than before.

“There you go!” Anakin said with a smile on his face.

“Eh, I don’t think this weapon is for me. It’s oddly heavy. Clearly, a spear isn’t just a larger arrow,” Padmé said.

“Fair enough, now what can you teach me?” Anakin joked.

“I was at the mace station earlier which I think I got the hang of. But the careers are everywhere. I'm surprised they didn’t see us just now. We’ll need to go separately,” Padmé said.

“That sounds like a plan. I haven’t been there yet,” Anakin said. He then got a little closer to Padmé and whispered “I thought bow and arrow was your skill.”

“It is, but Obi-Wan said not to show our skills, remember?” Padmé said as Anakin started over to the mace station. Padmé followed behind a few minutes later where she saw Anakin struggling.

“How is this supposed to be useful!” Anakin complained as he swung it around.

“You got to bludgeon people with the giant head and see the pointy thing? You could probably stab someone with it,” Padmé said as she pointed to the sharp point on the end of the mace.

“Do you plan on using this by any chance?” Anakin asked.

“Not likely,” Padmé said quietly while snickering.

Anakin hit the head right off one of the dummies with the mace.

“There you go!” Padmé said excitedly before leaving Anakin to his own devices and to avoid the careers painting a target on her back.

After he was finished at the mace station, he noticed he had a half-hour left before he could go back up to the penthouse for dinner. He was getting pretty hungry. He walked over to the plants station which shown a large computer with various plants, berries, and creatures on it. When Anakin clicked on an icon, the name of it and some attributes came up.

_Nightlock_

  * _Highly lethal, can kill someone in minutes._
  * _Often mistaken for blueberries with their dark blueish colour._
  * _Slightly darker than blueberries although the colour difference is hardly noticeable to the untrained eye._



Anakin’s mother often warned Anakin about nightlock as it grew in the woods surrounding District 12. He moved onto a different icon.

_Tracker Jackers_

  * _Genetically engineered wasps._
  * _Very powerful venom. One to two stings can cause powerful hallucinations. Many stings can cause death._
  * _Slightly larger than normal wasps._



Anakin called it a day after looking over some of the other plants. He had no idea how people discerned one leaf from another. They all looked the same to him.

Anakin made his way back up to the penthouse with Padmé.

“What do you think dinner will be tonight?” Padmé asked, trying to make conversation.

“I don’t know. Hopefully, it will be ready soon whatever it is” Anakin said, trying not to fumble over his words.

Padmé giggled and replied “me too. I’m starving!”

“Well it could be worse,” Anakin said as the elevator ascended.

Padmé frowned and said “yea” before the elevator dinged, they were on their floor. Immediately when they stepped off the elevator, they could smell dinner. The two tributes walked to the dining table which was already perfectly set by the avoxes. The smell was immaculate, but they could not place what it smelled like. That meant it was probably something not easily accessed in District 12. All Anakin could tell was that it smelled like meat of some sort.

Obi-Wan approached the two tributes, “how was training?”

“It was fine,” Anakin replied as Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padmé sat down at the table.

“The careers were stalking tributes all day,” Padmé complained.

“I went to the swords and this boy from 2 was like-“ Anakin said as he prepared to impersonate the boy from 2. “Don’t touch my sword or I’ll gut you,” Anakin said mockingly.

“He also got mad at someone for stealing his sword when he didn’t even touch it” Padmé added.

“Woah ok. So, careers train at a special academy until they’re 18 and then volunteer usually. At that point, they’re pretty lethal,” Obi-Wan said as Satine sat down with them.

“But they don’t receive any special treatment by the gamemakers,” Satine said, reiterating her point from the previous night. Obi-Wan looked at her funny but didn’t comment as dinner was served. Dinner was a big steak dinner with steak, a loaded baked potato, asparagus, and a hot dinner roll with butter on the side. Anakin had never had a meal this large before, neither had Padmé based on the look on her face when the plate was placed in front of her by an avox. Satine subtly gestured which utensil to use as the conversation continued right where it left off.

“However, careers have one major weakness, arrogance. Exploit that if possible,” Reiterating his point from the night before but also hoping to get more out of them than he did last night.

“How?” Padmé asked.

“Lure them into a trap?” Obi-Wan suggested.

“So, like if there are nightlock berries, use that as a trap hypothetically?” Anakin asked.

“That might work but sometimes the careers know better, sometimes they don’t. Last year the girl from 1 ate nightlock, giving the boy from 10 a win,” Obi-Wan said before Anakin changed the subject.

“This steak is so good,” Anakin said after swallowing, something Satine appreciated.

“I see we’re finally learning table manners,” Satine commented.

“I agree, it’s nice to see,” Obi-Wan replied as he smiled at Satine.

Anakin and Padmé didn’t speak any more during dinner. They were both quite hungry after a full day of training and they still had two more days of training until their individual assessments.

“So, any other advice for us for training?” Padmé asked. Anakin observed that Padmé always thought ahead.

“You got 1 and a half days of training left and then your individual assessments will take place in the other half of that day. High scores equal sponsors which will be extremely helpful, especially at your worst moments. Don’t associate with the careers. They are not to be trusted. Only show your skills to the gamemakers during your individual assessment. Do I make myself clear?” Obi-Wan said.

“Yes, thanks,” Padmé said.  
“Do you got any new advice?” Anakin asked.

“Uh, when it comes to careers, they tend to team up with each other and they will try to take the Cornucopia. They will be well-stocked. You need to avoid them as much as possible and absolutely do not team up with them. That’s a one-way ticket to being killed in your sleep.” 

“Ok, so what should we do?” Anakin asked.

“Your main concern in the arena is finding water and then finding food. Then you just need to stay alive and avoid the others” Obi-Wan said before dessert was brought out. It was a double-tiered chocolate cake. Anakin and Padmé’s eyes widened as they glanced at one another while an avox sliced the cake and placed on a slice on each plate. Anakin lapped into the cake. Satine sends a dirty look Anakin’s way.

“Anakin! I thought you finally started to learn table manners!” Satine scolded.

“Sorry Satine, it’s just really good,” Anakin said, barely managing to swallow before he spoke.

“He’s at least not talking with his mouth full, you’ve made some progress if it’s any consolation,” Obi-Wan said as he laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. 

“Not to mention he’s using the wrong fork!” Satine said in exasperation before finishing the rest of her cake and leaving the table.

“Don’t take it personally, she makes it her mission to teach the tributes from 12 table manners,” Obi-Wan said.

“One more piece of advice, stick together during training,” Obi-Wan said.

“Why?” Anakin asked. Even being with Padmé for the amount of time he was with her in training today was hard enough knowing he might have to kill her.

“Just do it, it could translate into an alliance in the arena which isn’t always a bad thing, especially against the careers should you run into them,” Obi-Wan said before getting up.

* * *

The next day at training, Anakin and Padmé kept a close watch on the other careers and their strengths. The District 2 male obviously liked swords. The girl from 1 appeared to spend a lot of time at the throwing knives station. The District 1 boy was a fellow spear user. The girl from 2 liked axes, the boy from 4 liked regular-sized knives and machetes, while the girl from 4 liked the bow and arrow. That will be some competition for Padmé too. Padmé appeared almost intimidated but she managed to play it cool as she tied some knots.

“Nice knot you got there,” Anakin said.

“Thanks, my mom taught me all kinds of knots when I was a kid,” Padmé replied.

“She certainly did a good job then, how did you tie that one?” Anakin said, pointing to the most complicated one. Padmé placed her hands onto Anakin' as she guided his hands along the rope. Anakin started to blush but tried to hide it as much as possible.

Anakin and Padmé spent most of their time on the survival skills as opposed to the weapons. Time seemed to pass much quicker today because before they knew it, it was 5 o’clock, time for dinner. Tonight’s dinner looked to be chicken fajitas served with every topping imaginable. People from the merchant section could get chicken sometimes but it was scarce, Anakin only got chicken if he traded at the Hob but spices were not easily accessed in 12. Every once in a while, there might be a spice or two in the merchant section, and even more rarely did it make its way to the Hob.

“Tomorrow is the individual assessment, but you will get half a day in the training center to review. Don’t practice your abilities, review the survival stuff. Because you two are from 12 you will go last for individual assessments. Afterward, you’re given a score from 1-12, 1 being the worst and 12 being the best. Scores 8 and up tend to yield sponsors. Do I make myself clear?” Obi-Wan said as dessert got served. It was apple pie with vanilla bean ice cream.

“Yes,” Anakin replied. Padmé simply nodded.

“On a lighter note, this is really good, it’s not my mom’s pie but it’s a close second,”. Anakin said with his mouth full.

* * *

The next morning Padmé and Anakin went down to the training center bright and early. The careers were focused on their weapons of choice, as were a few other tributes while the boy and girl from 11 were at the fire-making station. Their mentor must have given them the same advice as Obi-Wan. Padmé and Anakin made their way to the fire-making station too and worked together to get a fire going before moving to the plants station again. Padmé paid more attention to the leaves.

_Plantago Major_

  * _Also known as the broadleaf plantain (not to be confused with the fruit, plantain)_
  * _The leaves can be made into a paste and then can be used medicinally for a number of things, including, stings, wounds, and sores._
  * _The root can be used to help treat fevers or respiratory infections._
  * _Younger leaves are edible raw while older leaves are better cooked._



“Hopefully we find this leaf in the arena,” Padmé said as she pointed it out.

Anakin read the screen and replied, “me too, though how would we make it into a paste?”

“Some water maybe?” Padmé replied.

“Fair enough,” Anakin said.

A few hours passed quickly before the tributes are sent back up to their floor to await individual assessments. Lunch was served first. Compared to other meals they’ve been served in the Capitol, this was lighter, a sandwich with a salad. During lunch, tributes were being called down for individual assessments. They called three districts at a time.

_“District 1, 2 and 3, please report for individual assessments.”_

“You two are awfully quiet today,” Satine said, bored of the silence at the dinner table.

“I guess we just don’t have much to say,” Anakin replied with a shrug.

“I think what he means is that we’re a little nervous,” Padmé said. 

“Oh, that’s normal, just try to focus on what you’re doing. I’m not allowed to sponsor anyone but if I could I would sponsor both of you,” Satine said.

“Because there’s nothing wealthy Capitol citizens enjoy more than sponsoring tributes,” Obi-Wan said.

“I meant it as a compliment!”

“I know,” Obi-Wan replied.

The table went silent before Obi-Wan said “sorry, that might have been uncalled for.”

“No, it’s true,” Satine said as she excused herself.

“Satine I didn’t mean it like that!” Obi-Wan said as he followed behind her, leaving just Anakin and Padmé at the table.

“How are you feeling about today?” Anakin asked, breaking the silence.

“Nervous, I don’t know if my bow and arrow skill is going to be good enough to get a good score,” Padmé said.

“I’m sure it will be” Anakin replied.

“It’s not as good as you were with the spear through” Padmé admitted.

“I guess we’ll find out later. Though you got this” Anakin said with a smile before getting up.

A few hours later it was time for Padmé and Anakin to go downstairs.

_“Districts 10,11 and 12 please report for individual assessments.”_

Obi-Wan approached them before Satine took them downstairs.

“Show your skills, Padmé, use the bow, Anakin, use the spear. One more tip, shoot straight, both of you.”

“Thanks,” Anakin and Padmé said simultaneously before Satine brought them downstairs.

“Good luck,” Satine said once they made it downstairs.

Anakin and Padmé sat down with the tributes from 10 and 11. The District 10 boy was called in first. He wasn’t much bigger than the girl, both were quite frail-looking, the boy was no older than 15.

The girl from 10 was called in next. She was no older than 14. Anakin hated to think about this, but she and her district partner would probably be one of the first to die once the tributes get in the arena, especially if the careers get a hold of them.

_District 11, Waxer. Please report for your individual assessment”._

Waxer whispered something to his much younger district partner before going in, likely just wishing her luck. Waxer was a larger, bald male with a little facial hair. This gave Anakin the indication that he was on the older end of tributes, more than likely 18.

_“District 11, Numa. Please report for your individual assessment”._

She was certainly the youngest tribute going into the arena. She was definitely 12 and her hair was done into pigtails, probably to emphasize her youth and innocence. She’s in there a little longer than the District 10 tributes but not as long as her district partner was.

_“District 12, Anakin. Please report for your individual assessment.”_

Finally, it was Anakin’s turn. 

“Anakin?” Padmé asked.

Anakin turned around.

“Good luck,” Padmé said.

“Thanks”.

Anakin then reported for his individual assessment. This was where he should show his actual skill according to Obi-Wan. The gamemakers seemed occupied with the roast pig with the apple in its mouth. While in the Capitol, Anakin learned that the capitol citizens gorge on food while District 12 has high starvation rates. It was disgusting.

“Anakin Skywalker, District 12.” This got Head Gamemaker Mas Amedda’s attention. Anakin threw a spear at one of the human-shaped targets. He missed. The gamemakers laughed as Anakin realized that he missed. They immediately went back to their food as Anakin shot another spear. Straight into the heart.

"They didn’t even see it. How could they?" Anakin thought. Anakin got mad and decided to shoot a spear into the apple. The spear landed perfectly into the apple and wedged itself into the wall, startling the gamemakers.

“Thank you, for your consideration,” Anakin said, relishing in their startled expressions before walking away. 

* * *

Upstairs, Satine is lecturing Anakin, while Padmé, Threepio, and Artoo are sitting with them, waiting to hear about the training scores.

“You shot a spear at the gamemakers!?”

“Not at them, only at the apple” Anakin replied smugly.

“It’s not that big of a deal, no one got hurt,” Artoo groaned in Anakin’s defense.

“It’s just bad manners Artoo!”

Obi-Wan walked in soon after.

“About time you showed up! We got a situation on our hands!” Satine said.

“Not the direction I would’ve taken it but good shooting,” Obi-Wan said.

Satine became frustrated.

“His actions reflect badly on all of us! What if the gamemakers decide to take it out on-“

Obi-Wan interrupted Satine “On who? On him? On her? I think they already have.”

“What did they do when you shot the spear?” Obi-Wan asked a little more seriously as he turned his attention to Anakin.

“They were startled” Anakin replied. Padmé tried to stifle a giggle when she felt Satine’s angry glare. 

“Then you said what? Thanks, for-“

“for your consideration” Anakin finished.

Obi-Wan laughed for a full minute.

“Genius! I wish I could’ve seen it myself,” Obi-Wan said before Satine got frustrated again.

“I can’t with you two! This is not funny!” Satine yelled before sitting on the couch next to Threepio.

The program finally came on where Hondo and Mas Amedda were sitting next to one another, about to announce training scores. 

The careers all got good scores. The girl from 1 got an 8, the boy, a 9. The girl from 2 got a 9 too while the boy got a 10. The girl from 4, an 8, and the boy, a 10. Both tributes from District 10 got a 5. That was the average score for a tribute it seemed as a lot of tributes got in the 5-6 range except for the girl from 5 who got a 7 and the girl from 7 who also got a 7. The tributes from 11 were interesting. Numa got a 7. Anakin had no idea what the little girl could’ve shown to yield that score but she must be tougher than she looks. Waxer scored a 9, the same as a couple of careers. Then it was finally time to reveal the District 12 scores.

“Padmé Amidala, with a score of 8.” Threepio and Padmé’s prep team cheered but quieted down when they heard Hondo say “Finally, Anakin Skywalker, with a score of 10.”

Anakin was shocked while everyone around him and Padmé cheered. Padmé put a hand on his shoulder. “Congratulations!” she said with a smile on her face.

“To Padmé and Anakin! The girl and boy on fire!” Artoo and Threepio said as everyone clinked glasses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to include the thank you for your consideration scene, it just seems like something Anakin would do haha


	4. The Evening Show with Hondo Ohnaka (Special 74th Hunger Games Edition)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin and Padmé prepare for the tribute interviews and Anakin drops a bombshell onto Padmé and the Capitol audience

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little note about yesterdays events, I hope everyone is staying safe and I hope that the chaos ends soon

The next day was the interview with Hondo. It was a spectacle no matter what and Threepio and Artoo would be hard at work, with Obi-Wan and Satine close by. At breakfast that morning, Obi-Wan gave them a run-down of how the day would go.

“The second you’re done breakfast, Threepio and Artoo want you. They have a dress and a suit ready to go but hair and makeup take hours and the interviews start around 5.”

“If you’re not down there by 10, I will personally find you and escort you to Threepio and Artoo myself,” Satine said. Obi-Wan smiled at her before saying, “you do not want that to happen. If you thought last night was bad, it will be even worse if you’re not to Artoo and Threepio by 10.”

The group chuckled but Satine decided to take it as a compliment.

Threepio had a short fire orange dress for Padmé. The bottom part even had an array of orange, yellows, and reds that looked like flames while the top piece had short, clear sleeves with orange glitter on the shoulders and chest. Threepio is busy at work with Padmé’s hair while the rest of the prep team works on the dress, making sure it is perfectly in place and that there will be no wardrobe malfunctions on stage. Threepio is braiding a section of Padmé’s hair that he soon pinned to the side of her head. He did the same to the other side and pinned it right next to the first one. Threepio then curled a small piece of hair in the front that he missed when he braided those first pieces of hair. There was a small space in between where the two braids were pinned. Threepio decided how he wants to cover that up. He starts by curling the rest of Padmé’s hair. Padmé has naturally wavy hair so that wasn’t too much of a challenge. He then takes some of this hair and pins it onto the space between the braids, covering it up while the rest falls down onto Padmé’s shoulders. He then puts some hairspray on it to make sure it stays in place. Threepio places an orange clip that will be visible. The clip is the same colour orange as the dress. Threepio then throws on some orange sparkles to the top.

“My my you are looking fabulous!” Threepio says while a member of his prep team brings him the heels that go with the dress. They’re also bright orange. Satine walked into the room just as Padmé put on her heels

“Threepio! You have outdone yourself once again!” Satine says.

“Why thank you Miss Kryze,” Threepio replied.

Satine looked to Padmé and said “you look absolutely stunning! The crowd is going to love you!”

“Thank you!” Padmé replied.

“Obi-Wan is with Anakin but let’s be honest, I’m better at this part of the mentoring than Obi-Wan,” Satine said, her cheeks started to turn red as she mentioned his name but Padmé didn’t notice.

“You gotta go out there and shine. Hondo will likely talk about the entrance you made a few nights ago, he might ask a couple of questions about how you find the Capitol. Make sure you find an in to twirl,” Satine said.

“Maybe when he asks about the entrance, I should do it?” Padmé asked.

“Yes. Absolutely! Yes!” Satine said.

“I’m telling you, she’s a total natural!” Threepio said.

“A little coaching from a Capitol citizen herself never hurt anyone. Besides, I have insight Obi-Wan doesn’t, and that’s knowledge on what the Capitol will eat up for sure. Obi-Wan can only speculate but I actually live here,” Satine said with a devious smile on her face. There must be some friendly competition between the two today, Padmé thought.

* * *

Meanwhile, Artoo was trying to get Anakin to stay still while he fixed up the suit. The entire suit was black except for an orange tie that is similar in colour to Padmé’s dress.

“Anakin, you need to sit still so that the tie will go on properly, this isn’t some clip-on tie,” Artoo said.

“This is uncomfortable,” Anakin complained.

“At least it isn’t a tux shirt, a suit shirt can be more on the casual side,” Artoo said.

“You call this casual?!” Anakin asked.

“No, I mean tux shirts are fancier and I would say more uncomfortable,” Artoo said as Obi-Wan walked in.

“You’ve done well once again Artoo,” Obi-Wan said.

“Thank you,” Artoo said.

“What can I expect in the interview?” Anakin asked, turning to face Obi-Wan.

“Well Hondo, he’s a…” Obi-Wan said as he paused to look for the right word to describe Hondo. “He’s a character, to say the least. He’ll likely ask you basic things like about life in the Capitol vs the districts, he might ask about your training score and maybe even about your stepbrother since the Capitol has likely figured out by now that you’re Owen’s stepbrother and he was a liked tribute. Other than that, Hondo could ask you anything. My advice is, be yourself but also try to be happy for the crowds,” Obi-Wan said.

“I know this is a bit personal, but could I talk to you about something?” Anakin sheepishly asked.

“Should I go because I can come back after this if you two would like,” Artoo interjected. 

“Nah it’s fine, Artoo can hear what I’m about to say as long as he doesn’t tell Threepio or anyone for that matter,” Anakin said.

“Anyways Anakin, what is it?” Obi-Wan said.

Anakin’s hands began to get clammy and his cheeks turned bright red before he started to speak.

“I-I have feelings for Padmé,” Anakin managed to say. Everyone in the room was stunned at this revelation.

“As in the romantic type?” Obi-Wan asked.

Anakin nodded before saying “I don’t know if I can train with her anymore without my feelings getting in the way.”

“Tributes wanting to train on their own eventually happens anyway. I’ll break the news to Padmé the next time I see her. But these feelings cannot get in the way of your survival. I can say with confidence that you do stand a decent chance at winning this year. However, I can also sell this, and get you more sponsors. People love a story like this. That’s why your stepbrother and his girlfriend got so many sponsors before they were killed. If Hondo asks, make sure you mention this, if only in the name of sponsors,” Obi-Wan said.

Artoo’s jaw would be on the floor if it were possible.

“Don’t tell anyone!” Anakin said while shooting his stylist a glare.

“My lips are sealed!” Artoo said.

“Good and they better stay sealed until after the interview,” Obi-Wan said as he left.

Outside the dressing rooms, Obi-Wan and Satine ran into each other.

“So, what advice did you give Anakin?” Satine asked. 

“I told Anakin what types of questions he could be asked, you?” Obi-Wan replied.

“I told Padmé what questions she should expect too. We’ll see who aces this interview later. I live in the Capitol so I know exactly what everyone’s talking about and I made sure to tell Padmé that,” Satine said as she grinned mischievously and went on ahead of him.

“As if I don’t know what’s going on!” Obi-Wan yelled after her.

“I have sources you don’t!” Satine retorted as she faded from Obi-Wan’s sight.

Obi-Wan, Satine, and Padmé sat down at the dinner table as avoxes began serving the food.

“Where’s Anakin?” Padmé asked.

“He decided he wants to be trained on his own from now on,” Obi-Wan said.

“What?” Padmé said in shock.

“Well, this type of thing eventually happens when you mentor two tributes. After all, there can only be 1 victor right? He probably doesn’t want to get too attached,” Obi-Wan said.

Padmé mulled over this for a few minutes as she ate her food.

“Will he at least get to eat before the interview?” Padmé finally asked.

“Odd question but yes, an avox already brought him something,” Obi-Wan said.

Padmé felt hurt about this. She barely knew Anakin before this but now, she wasn’t sure how she felt.

After dinner, Obi-Wan and Satine got Anakin and Padmé into the line of tributes before they accompanied other victors and escorts to join the audience. Each tribute starting from the District 1 girl all the way to the District 12 boy was in the lineup. Of course, District 12 goes last. Anakin observed the other tributes but he couldn’t take his eyes off of Padmé.

Meanwhile, Padmé looked more concerned with the other interviews.

_“You got one of the highest training scores, tell me how that will translate into the arena?”_ Hondo asked the District 2 boy.

_“Well Hondo, let’s just say I’m ready and able to do what it takes to win!”_ The boy from 2 said with a crazy look to his eye.

_“That’s the spirit! I love that! Don’t you?”_ Hondo asked his audience to which they cheered loudly.

_“So, are you stealthy or an in your face kind of fighter?”_ Hondo asked the District 4 male.

_“The best fighters are a bit of both. Stealthy enough to pull off a sneak attack, but in your face enough to be able to fight in close combat effectively and I consider myself one of the best.”_

_“Interesting perspective,”_ Hondo replied.

The line eventually got shorter. While the District 10 female was on stage, Numa brought backstage. While the District 10 male was on stage, Waxer was brought backstage. Numa finally got on stage.

_“So, I’ve heard you’re small but fast, is that correct?”_ Hondo asked.

_“Yes,”_ Numa said.

_“Not very talkative are we?”_ Hondo joked before asking _“Do you think that will be an asset to you in the arena?”_

Numa decided to elaborate a little more this time, _“Yes, because if they can’t catch me, they can’t kill me”._

Padmé doesn’t get a chance to hear the rest of Numa’s interview before she is whisked backstage.

* * *

After Waxer’s interview, Padmé finally gets to go on stage.

“Finally, District 12. You know her as the girl on fire!” Hondo says as a crowd cheers. “Come on out, Padmé Amidala!”

That’s Padmé’s cue. She walks out onto the stage confidently while eyeing the cheering crowd. She notices Threepio, Obi-Wan, Artoo, and Satine in the audience which helps some of her nerves.

“That was quite an entrance you and Anakin made the other night! Am I right folks?” Hondo said, to which the crowd cheered.

“Were those flames you and Anakin were wearing real, tell us, please!” Hondo asked.

Padmé looked to Threepio in the audience who nodded.

“Yes, I was hoping I wouldn’t burn to death. I’m actually wearing the flames tonight; would you like to see them?”

“For sure!” Hondo said as he kept a safe distance.

Padmé twirled around in a circle as the bottom of her dress gave the illusion of flames. A chorus of oohs and ahhs erupted from Hondo and the audience. As Padmé sat back down, Hondo cheered “Impressive, magnificent” as the camera panned to Threepio who nervously waved at the camera. 

* * *

Anakin was listening in on Padmé’s interview and taking mental notes on what questions she was being asked. He hoped he could be as confident as she seemed to be.

After a few minutes, it was now Anakin’s turn to go on stage.

“The girl on fire is a hard number to beat but maybe the boy on fire can do it! Let’s welcome to the stage, Anakin Skywalker!”

Anakin walked out onto the stage. He waved to the audience but almost tripped over his own two feet before sitting in the chair that Hondo gestured to.

“So how are you adjusting to life in the Capitol?”

“It’s quite different from home,” Anakin said.

“How so?”

“Uh, well everything, my bedroom here is bigger than my whole house!” Anakin said. The audience laughed as if it was a joke.

“Well you know what they say, everything’s extra in the Capitol. Did I get that lingo right kids?” Hondo asked.

“How am I supposed to know, I’m not even from here!” Anakin said. The audience laughed again.

“Now on a more serious note, I’ve been hearing that your stepbrother was on this very stage 4 years ago to the night, is that true?”

“Yes.”

"We were all quite moved by him and his sacrifice.”

To Anakin that was a relatively insensitive comment that essentially said, “I enjoyed that year’s games and Owen’s death was merely a piece of that”.

* * *

_Anakin and Owen were never particularly close, but Owen was an older brother figure. One that was especially helpful today. Anakin had turned 12 one month ago and was no eligible to be reaped. Owen accompanied Anakin to the registration tables._

_“You gotta sign in now, they’re just gonna prick your finger and take a little blood. It doesn’t hurt much, just stay with me and we’ll be fine.” Owen said as they got in line to register._

_Anakin’s finger was pricked first. Anakin winced a little, but it didn’t hurt that much. His finger was pressed to a sheet of paper and scanned. Afterward Anakin waited a little for Owen because he wasn’t sure where to go._

_After Owen was signed in, he said. “Go up to the front with the other kids your age, I gotta go with the kids my age but we’ll meet back up after okay?”_

_“Okay,” Anakin said as he went up to stand with the 12-year-olds, while Owen stood with the 16-year-olds._

* * *

“How did your parents feel when you were reaped?” Hondo asked.

“I’m sure you all heard my mother’s reaction, but my stepfather even got emotional and hugged me for what was the first and only time.”

The audience collectively said “aww.” 

“How moving,” Hondo said as he moved to a less serious topic.

“On a less serious note, do you think you’ll be as fiery in the arena as you were in the tribute parade?”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, Hondo,” Anakin said with a smirk.

“Are you gonna try to set the stage on fire like your district partner did? Hondo said with a chuckle.

“No, I don’t think my tie can turn into a flame, we can certainly try,” Anakin said, also laughing as he fiddled with his tie.

Anakin felt like he was breezing through his interview with Hondo. The only hiccup so far was being asked about Owen.

“So, do you have a special someone back home?” Hondo asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, shit,” Anakin thought. Just when he thought this was going to be easy.

“Nah” Anakin said, blushing and smiling like an idiot.

“I don’t believe it for a second! Handsome man like you, tell us,” Hondo said as he grinned at Anakin.

Anakin blushed even more as he thought of Padmé, “well there’s this one girl, I’ve had a crush on for a while since I was in middle school. She’s so beautiful, inside and out. Such a kind soul too.” Anakin said.

“Well I tell you what, you need to go out there and win this thing. Then, she’ll have to date you”. Hondo turned to the audience and asked “Am I right folks or not?” Hondo said to the audience who cheered.

“Well, I don’t think that’s an option.”

Confused, Hondo asked, “why not?”

Anakin took a deep breath before replying, "because she came here with me". He wasn’t sure what Padmé would think but it was either now or never to reveal these feelings he had had for years.

When Anakin went backstage, Padmé was flabbergasted, almost angry but she didn’t lash out. She just gave him a weird look. She didn’t know what to think.

Obi-Wan stepped in to break the awkward silence and said “let’s get you two back upstairs. Tomorrow’s gonna be a big day so you need some sleep.”

Anakin went to bed but struggled to fall asleep. He tossed and turned for what seemed like hours, dozing off only for a minute before waking up again.

He couldn’t sleep knowing that he could potentially be dead 24 hours from now. He sat in the window nook, eyeing the statue on the living room coffee table. He had no idea what it was supposed to be but Satine insisted they do not touch it. He turned around to hear Padmé walking towards him.

“You should be asleep Padmé,” Anakin said.

“You should be too Anakin. What’s got you up this late?”

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“Me neither. I want to soak up as much life as possible knowing that within the next 24 hours that could be gone. I don’t want to take this for granted,” Padmé said.

“Don’t think like that, you’re gonna bring home that win!” Anakin said.

“When my sister came to say goodbye, she said District 12 might finally have a victor, but unless the hunger games is a debate, she wasn’t talking about me. She was talking about you. She loves buying grouse off you by the way.”

“Glad to hear it. But seriously, I promise you, we will take the win back to 12.”

“Only one of us can win,” Padmé said.

Anakin looked down for a moment before changing the subject “what is that statue anyways and why does Satine insist we never touch it?” Anakin asked.

“It’s some Capitol modern art thing, at least that’s what she told me. It’s made out of real gold, which is why she doesn’t want anyone touching it.”

“I think if we’re under the mindset that we’re gonna die, why not touch it just to see what real gold feels like?” Anakin asked.

“As long as no one ever finds out, sure,” Padmé said with a smile.


	5. 74th Hunger Games: Day 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 74th Hunger Games have begun!

Morning came faster than Anakin would’ve liked. When he woke up, his clothes that he would be wearing in the games were laid out for him. Brown combat boots, green cargo pants, and a plain brown t-shirt. "Yet another forest arena", Anakin muttered. Forest arenas were quite popular in the Capitol, other arenas tend to create really short games or really boring and drawn-out games. Forest arenas were the perfect balance between bloodshed and length.

Anakin put on the clothes and joined Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan appeared to be taking him and Padmé separately to the hovercraft which made sense considering how it is everyone for themselves.

“Do not step off your platform early, there are mines all around it that get deactivated after the gong sounds. When it does sound, do not run for the cornucopia” Obi-Wan said, emphasizing each word in the last blurb.

“Why not?” Anakin asked.

“Because it’s a trap. They want to create a bloodbath. Water is your new best friend, run away from the cornucopia, find high ground and water. Do I make myself clear?” Obi-Wan asked.

“Yes,” Anakin said.

“One more thing, stay alive,” Obi-Wan said. Obi-Wan looked like he genuinely meant that. Anakin nodded before walking onto the hovercraft.

Aboard the hovercraft, there appeared to be 12 tributes including him. He recognized the boy from 4, Waxer, the girl from 5, the girl from 1, the girl from 2, and the boy from 8. A peacekeeper was walking around, putting something into each tribute's arm. Waxer flinched a little, as did the girl from 5. Anakin asked “what’s that?” as the peacekeeper put the device into his arm and pressed whatever button was at the top.

“Your tracker,” he said after leaving Anakin to insert it into another tribute. The gamemakers use tracking devices to keep tabs on tribute's location and vital signs while they're in the arena.

After the hovercraft got to where it was going, Anakin was escorted by peacekeepers to a room where Artoo was waiting for him with a black jacket. The jacket looked appeared to be a fleece jacket. This arena must be a cold one.

“I’m so glad to see you,” Anakin said as he walked in.

“As am I but we need to get you ready. You get raised up into the arena in about a minute.”

Artoo carefully put the jacket on Anakin. The fleece felt good against his skin.

Artoo fixed a stray strand of Anakin’s hair before saying, “I’m not allowed to bet but if I could, I’d bet on you.”

This must have been Artoo’s way of reassuring Anakin before he went into the arena.

“Thanks, buddy,” Anakin said. Artoo blushed a little, he wasn’t used to being called buddy by any tribute.

 _“50 seconds,"_ an automated voice said.

Artoo hugged Anakin. Anakin was taken aback but accepted the affection.

_“40 seconds.”_

Artoo pulled away as Anakin gulped while looking at the tube he had to go into.

_“30 seconds.”_

Anakin began to walk over to the tube slowly.

_“20 seconds.”_

Anakin stepped inside the tube. Immediately he was locked inside the tube to prevent escape. Artoo smiled at him as Anakin began to get raised up into the arena.

* * *

When he surfaced, the sun shone in his eyes, but he soon regained his vision and took note of his surroundings. A silver cornucopia was facing the sun. Inside it and around it were all kinds of weapons and backpacks, likely filled with supplies. He soon noticed Padmé on the other side of the circle, she slowly shook her head, likely repeating the advice from Obi-Wan not to go to the cornucopia.

Anakin noticed spears leaned on the side of the cornucopia. He wanted it.

_“30 seconds.”_

Anakin didn’t even realize another countdown had started and was half over. However, all Anakin could focus on was planning how he was going to get a spear.

_“20 seconds.”_

Anakin noticed other tributes getting into starting stances. The boy from 6 and the girl from 10 were next to Anakin but next to the boy from 6 was the girl from 4.

_"10."_

_"9."_

_"8."_

_"7."_

_"6."_

_"5."_

_"4."_

_"3."_

_"2."_

_"1."_

The gong sounded. Padmé immediately dashed for the woods, as did the girl from 5, and Numa. Anakin noticed tributes getting sliced left and right. Cannons went off like crazy. 6 in a minute?! Anakin needed to act now. He ran for a backpack nearby. The boy from 8 threw a knife at him which Anakin blocked with the backpack. The boy was soon struck down by the boy from 2, getting revenge like he had planned. But if Anakin didn’t get going, he would be next. Anakin quickly got up and dashed for the side to grab a spear. The boy from 3 was also going for the spears though and had noticed Anakin going for them too. Anakin grabbed a spear first and managed to hit the boy square in the chest with it, killing him instantly. Knowing that at least one career saw that boy fall to the ground, Anakin took another spear and ran off into the woods.

Anakin immediately looked for high ground as more cannons went off. There didn’t appear to be any mountains in this arena, but the temperature certainly was chilling. Anakin counted 11 cannons so far.

_*boom*_

12 people dead already. The careers were probably searching for him given his training score.

Anakin noticed a tree with enough leaf cover to keep him hidden so he could see what his backpack has to offer. Anakin unzipped it and secured the spear inside the backpack as best he could as he scaled the tree. Although over half the spear was sticking out.

He sat on a seemingly sturdy branch and unzipped the backpack again. Some rope, a canteen. Anakin opened it to see if it had water. He attempted to pour the contents on his hand only to find it empty, Anakin also had the knife from earlier, the spear, and a sleeping bag. “lousy backpack” Anakin muttered when he heard someone yell “this backpack is literally empty what the fuck?!” He then heard the girl mutter “I should’ve gotten the axe damn it.” Anakin deduced that it was likely the girl from 7 who liked axes. Soon after, he heard another tribute sneak up on her.

“Looking for this?” a female voice said as Anakin soon heard the girl's screams and then a cannon. Likely a career. Whoever it was likely killed her with an axe knowing she had no way to defend herself. Maybe the girl from 2, Anakin thought. She liked axes in the training center.

Anakin decided to tie himself to the tree for the night as he watched the montage of dead tributes from the day. Both tributes from 3, the boy from 5, both from 6, both from 7, both from 8, both from 9, both from 10. Anakin was relieved to know that Padmé is still alive. According to this, himself, Padmé, Numa, Waxer, the careers, and the girl from 5 are still around.

* * *

Meanwhile, Padmé was running from careers.

“I think we got another!” the girl from 1 yelled to her allies. Padmé knew she couldn’t outrun them all so she scaled a tree.

“We got her!” the others said enthusiastically. Maybe a little too enthusiastically.

“That’s not gonna help you up there Padmé! The girl from 1 shouted.

The boy from 1 aimed a spear at her but missed when Padmé evaded it and the spear fell back onto the ground.

The girl from 1 also missed when she threw one of her throwing knives. The girl from 4 then tried to shoot an arrow but also missed. It was harder than it looked to shoot a target close to the trunk of a tree.

“Maybe you should throw the sword!” Padmé taunted.

“I’ll throw something at you, you little punk!” The boy from 4 said as he threw a regular-sized knife which buried itself in the tree trunk rather than Padmé’s head.

“Maybe we should set up camp,” the girl from 2 said. “She can’t stay up there forever if she wants to live. We can wait her out and when she does come down we kill her then. If she doesn’t. She starves. She clearly got no supplies, and no one can live off leaves” the girl from 2 rationalizes. 

The other careers nod as they set up camp.

Throughout the night Padmé attempts to take the knife out of the tree trunk to no avail. She’s in for a long night.

While she is asleep, she hears a faint chime. She looks around and sees a small canister attached to a parachute. Padmé quietly climbs up to it, hoping not to rouse the careers and opens the canister. It’s a hunting knife. Attached to it is a note.

“This might prove useful. I hope it keeps you alive” -O.W.K

Padmé smiled as she placed the note back into the canister and kept the knife on her. She must have attracted the attention of a sponsor rich enough to buy weapons. It was rare for someone to be gifted a weapon. They were one of the most expensive gifts behind medicines and gear such as armour.

Padmé observed the careers. They had a fire with the skewer over it from when they cooked their food earlier. However, they were mindful enough to not leave the skewer too close. Their fire was medium-sized. One that would easily draw a career to her if she had a fire like that. Although she could understand their logic. Their only real threats were Anakin and Waxer since Padmé was in the tree, Numa was seen as quite weak, and the girl from 5 had the same strategy to not go to the cornucopia so she probably isn’t armed. Padmé had no clue where any other tribute was and someone like Anakin or Waxer probably couldn’t take down a team of 6 alone.

As it began to get darker, the careers started falling asleep. The only one still awake being the District 2 girl who she assumed was keeping watch in case Padmé decided to climb down from the tree and sneak away. Padmé decided to try and get some sleep, making sure she tightly held her new knife.

Padmé woke up with the sun. She noticed that the careers were still asleep but no one was keeping watch anymore. All of a sudden, she heard a loud “psst”. Padmé looked over at the other trees and saw Numa, the young girl from 11. Numa noticed the knife Padmé had and made a sawing motion with her hand before pointing at something closer to Padmé’s tree. A tracker jacker nest. Padmé gave Numa a thumbs up as thanks for the brilliant strategy. Padmé quietly shuffled herself closer to the branch the nest was on and began using the knife to cut the branch. It was harder than she thought it would be. As she cut through the branch, some of the bugs flew towards her, one of whom stung her hand causing immense pain, but she had to be as quiet as possible so that she didn’t wake the careers.

Her arm started to become tired as another bug also stung her hand. She pushed through it though as the branch started to wobble, some more bugs flew towards her as the branch finally detaches from the tree and the nest falls onto the careers.

Immediately, they scream and swat away the bugs as they try to run away. However, the girl from 1 and the girl from 4 were struggling. The girl from 4 was the first to go down as the bugs engulfed her and soon after they also engulfed the girl from 1 while the other careers managed to escape. Their cannons soon went off indicating that they were dead.

Meanwhile, in the tree, Padmé watched this happen while dealing with the pain from the stings, however not all the bugs were on the ground. One remained on the tree with Padmé and stung her in the neck. Padmé grabbed her neck but in the process fell off the branch. She managed to cling on for a moment before her hand slipped and she fell onto the ground. The bugs were still stinging the girl’s corpses as Padmé started to hallucinate. This was one of the effects described for multiple stings and Padmé had been stung three times. However, Padmé tried to push through it to grab the girl from 4’s bow and arrow. Her hands were swollen from the many stings. Another bug stung Padmé while she was getting the weapon but most of the bugs killed themselves off from stinging so much and running out of venom at this point. Padmé also decided to go for a couple of the throwing knives on the girl from 1’s chest. Padmé was no expert on throwing knives but she knew it would be better to have the weapons in the long run. She tried to get the vest off but it was no use so she took a few knives instead and placed them in the top pocket of her jacket. As she began to leave, the hallucinations became stronger and more powerful before Padmé collapsed among the corpses. 

* * *

Obi-Wan liked to invite other victors over during the games. They seemed to enjoy his penthouse suite. There were people of all ages, including the young Ahsoka Tano from 8, to older victors such as Shaak Ti from 5 over holo call, and a bunch in between such as Rex from 8, Cody from 2, Fives from 5, Jesse and Tup from 10, Hardcase and Echo from 3, and Kix from 6. While they were getting snacks and drinks, Quinlan Vos from 11 showed up, uninvited. 

"Hey what's up!" Quinlan said as he excitedly entered the apartment. Obi-Wan moved to ask him what he was doing there but then the others went up to him and seemed happy to have him there so Obi-Wan dropped the issue before it was raised.

“So, Tup, ready for the mentor festivities!” Fives asked. 

“Let’s just say when the tributes are in the arena, the mentors will play,” Echo said as he stood next to Fives.

“Heh, ready as I’ll ever be” Tup nervously said. Tup won last year's games with Jesse as his mentor.

Hardcase popped a bottle of expensive wine and sloppily poured it into champagne glasses, much to Satine’s disdain since he made the carpet dirty.

“Some of you got some good tributes this year” Rex commented as they started watching the games. Mentors always watched the games with bated breath, especially those with tributes still alive. Right now, those were Obi-Wan, Quinlan, Fives, and Cody.

“Heh yeah, it’s the first time someone from 12 survived the bloodbath in years, let alone both of them,” Obi-Wan said.

“Same with 11,” Quinlan said as he slapped his arm around Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan looked less than pleased.

“Of course I’d rather my district win but if my tribute dies I hope 11 or 12 takes home another win,” Cody said.

“Thanks, Cody” Obi-Wan said.

“At least not all careers are bad,” Kix said.

Cody chuckled before Tup said, “so he won’t try to kill me?”

“No, we aren’t in the arena, however, if we were,” Cody said teasingly before trailing off and making Tup gulp before saying “don’t worry kid, we won’t be in the arena together, even if they for some reason start reaping victors.”

“What the fuck?!” Fives yelled at the holo television.

“What’s wrong Fives,” Echo said as he turned to the screen before seeing what’s happening. “Oh,” Echo said.

“Did she not pay attention to the survival skills like I told her? Based on that handful of nightlock she just ate, she’ll be dead in a minute.”

“I had high hopes for her too,” Shaak said.

* * *

Numa slowly climbed down from her tree and dragged Padmé far enough away for the corpses to be picked up. Numa jumped as she heard a cannon go off. She quickly checked Padmé’s pulse. It was weak but there. Numa sighed in relief as she placed some leaves on the areas where she started to swell up from the stings. Numa immediately recognized which plants to use. “I guess that’s one of the perks of living in the agriculture district” Numa whispered to herself as she placed Padmé’s leaves and climbed up a nearby tree to rest.

,That night Numa looked up at the night see to see who died that day.

“The girl from 1, the girl from 4, and the girl from 5,” Numa whispered while counting on her fingers who was left.


	6. Survival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin and Padmé try to survive in an arena out to kill them, while final 8 interviews are conducted in the districts.

Anakin climbed down from a tree and explored the arena. He knew there was a lake of freshwater which he used to fill his canteen. He then walked and kept walking. He wanted to see how big the arena was. He noticed the arena kept getting hotter today than it was yesterday. That was annoying him given that the tributes were given fleece coats. Anakin took off his coat to wrap it around his waist but when he took it off he immediately became freezing cold again. It was an almost unbearable cold. "Sweating it is", Anakin thought as he put the jacket back on.

Anakin picked himself some berries, being careful not to accidentally pick nightlock. The girl from 5 was following him a few hours ago but died after eating nightlock. If she didn’t eat the nightlock he was planning to kill her very soon.

Anakin soon noticed woodpeckers on the trees. He decided to launch a spear at one and he stabbed it in the chest, causing it to fall from the tree but just as Anakin bent over to retrieve it, the others showed their teeth and came after him. These were no ordinary woodpeckers, these were some Capitol engineered woodpeckers. Anakin yanked the spear out of the dead woodpecker and began stabbing others with them. The last of them bit Anakin’s hand. The cut wasn’t too deep, much to Anakin’s relief. To his surprise, the last woodpecker went away. Odd, Anakin thought before shrugging and taking one of the dead woodpeckers. Anakin had no way to safely store the others. Surely his backpack would be a contamination goldmine.

Anakin set up a small fire to cook the woodpecker as his hand became more painful. As the woodpecker was roasting, Anakin heard a faint sponsor chime. He looked around and noticed that the parachute got caught on a tree branch. Anakin used his spear to get it down and open it. There was a small canister with a note attached.

“Apply generously” -O.W.K

“Thanks Obi-Wan” Anakin whispered as he opened it up. It appeared to be an ointment of some sort. Anakin applied the cream to his hand and it immediately started to feel better. He almost forgot about the roasting woodpecker until he smelled more smoke than meat.

He immediately pulled the bird off the fire and began to eat the now cooked bird.

* * *

Padmé woke up a day and a half later. She was shocked to see that she had been laying near a group of bushes away from where she was when she collapsed. Her bow was next to her and her knives, were still in her pocket, and her hunting knife was still next to her so whoever moved her didn’t steal anything. Padmé stood up and collected her things before she squinted and noticed a lock of Numa’s hair behind a nearby tree. Padmé approached the girl who looked terrified.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you” Padmé said as she stood next to Numa.

Numa was much shorter than Padmé, her hair was done into pigtails, probably to bolster the innocent girl appeal. She also had an olive complexion and had on the same outfit as Padmé but it was made to fit her.

Padmé held her hand out while Numa looked up at her. Her brown eyes looked scared but once she realized that Padmé wanted to be her ally, Numa looked a little less scared and shook Padmé’s hand.

“How long was I out?” Padmé asked as the two looked for food.

“A day and a half. The girls from 1,4 and 5 died while you were gone.”

“I knew about the ones from 1 and 4, but 5?”

“Not sure how she died but I didn’t hear anything so it must have been far from here. Maybe the other side of the arena” Numa said.

Numa noticed a frog and killed it with her slingshot.

“Did you make that?” Padmé asked, looking at the wooden slingshot.

“Yea, I know a thing or two about slingshots from back home, they’re a popular toy,” Numa said.

Padmé started a small fire to cook the frog.

“So is the boy from my district still around?” Padmé asked.

Numa developed a cheeky smile on her face and said “is all that true?”

“What?”

“About you and him?” she teased.

“No, no, we’re just friends,” Padmé said.

“I doubt it,” Numa teased further. Padmé simply laughed as she finished her frog leg. She decided to give Numa the rest of her half of the frog.

“Here,” Padmé said.

“Really?” Numa said in disbelief. 

“Of course,” Padmé said.

Later in the night Padmé put out the fire and kept watch while Numa slept.

* * *

Meanwhile, Anakin had been sitting out in the far reaches of the arena, far from any other tribute. This was not something the gamemakers were pleased with. They decided to turn him back towards the other tributes.

While Anakin was asleep he started to smell smoke. He thought it might have been the careers nearby but when he opened his eyes he saw a fire had started to burn the forest. Anakin quickly started to run away from the fire. However, the gamemakers wanted to have a little fun with Anakin and decided to send a fireball his way. Anakin quickly dodged it, but the fire started to close in on him. Anakin desperately searched for a spot without fire so he could escape. Eventually, he found one and got out but not before a fireball grazed his shoulder.

Anakin continued running for a while until he found the body of water that he used to fill his canteen earlier. He took off his jacket and found the hole in his shirt, caused by the fireball. He got into the water, soothing his wound.

He decided to relax for a minute before getting out and drying off his clothes to the best of his ability. He applied some of the remaining ointment from Obi-Wan’s sponsor gift onto the wound before putting his jacket back on. He then filled up his canteen and started moving once again.

* * *

Back in District 12, Anakin and Padmé’s families were being interviewed. Once the games are down to the final 8 tributes, families get interviewed. Shmi was quite surprised for the mayor to show up at her door with a hologram of Hondo.

“Shmi Skywalker right?” Hondo cheerfully said.

“Yes,” Shmi said.

“Can I interview you, seeing as your son is in the top 8” Hondo said. 

It wasn’t like Shmi was allowed to say no anyway.

“Sure,” Shmi said as the mayor walked in with his hologram.

“So what was it like raising Anakin?” Hondo asked first.

“Chaotic” Shmi said with a chuckle before continuing “He was a hyper child, to say the least. It feels quiet here now”.

“I bet it does,” Hondo said before asking “How did Anakin learn to use a spear so well?”

Shmi had to be careful with her wording, she couldn’t tell anyone that Anakin illegally hunts because even if Anakin died the Capitol would take herself and Cliegg and punish them severely, she had heard stories of people getting caught poaching or buying poached goods being brought to the Capitol and having their tongues cut out before being made into a slave, an avox.

* * *

_Shmi and her friend often hunted in the woods. They were both girls from the seam and were taking out tesserae since they were 12 but there were little to no nutrients in the grain and oil provided so they had to find other sources outside the little food their families could afford. Shmi had just shot down a bird with her bow and walked over to get it while her friend was chasing after a deer.  
Suddenly a hovercraft appeared above them. Shmi managed to hide from the craft. However, as her friend was moving to hide a weighted net came down from the craft, trapping her friend. Her friend moved to escape but a claw came down from the craft and took her and the net. _

* * *

“We have a scarecrow in our garden,” Shmi said pointing to the garden where her goat is grazing. “Anakin was scared of scarecrows so he used to throw sticks at it after I told him I wasn’t taking it away and that he couldn’t touch it. After his father died, he started throwing sticks at the scarecrow every time he was sad, mad or stressed. It was an odd coping mechanism.”

Hondo laughs before saying “how funny. If Anakin brings home the victory, what will you do with your newfound riches and home?”

“I don’t even know. It would probably be more money than I would even know what to do with. Maybe I’d buy myself some new clothes or maybe get something to make making cheese a little easier. The Capitol has that right?” Shmi said with a slight chuckle.

“Of course we do! You dream it we got it” Hondo said while laughing.

“On a more serious note, you and your husband are in a unique situation since this is the second child you two have had to send to the arena, how are you two dealing with it.

“It’s hard for sure” Cliegg said. Shmi started to tear up. “I’ve been a wreck the whole time. It’s hard watching the games anyways, let alone when your own child is in there. Owen wasn’t my biological kid but it hurt just as bad seeing him in the arena, like I’m sure it did for Cliegg” Shmi said.

“I can’t imagine being in your situation but I’m sure he’s made his district proud,” Hondo said.

* * *

Padmé noticed the careers staying around the supplies at the cornucopia.

“There’s gotta be some kind of trap here,” Numa said, peering through the trees at the pile of supplies.

“There seems to be one career at each side of the pile,” Padmé said noticing the girl from 2 on one side and the boy from 4 on another from where she is looking.

“We should get them away from the supplies” Padmé then said.

“Some of this green stuff we walked past earlier will smoke like crazy, if we set a fire, the careers will be intrigued and possibly leave the supplies,” Numa suggested.

“That sounds great but we need to ensure they all leave their supplies for a minute so we can get something,” Padmé said.

“Hmm, maybe multiple fires,” Numa said.

“That sounds like a good plan, we need to space them out enough so that they’ll send different people,” Padmé said.

“Exactly, let’s get started,” Numa said as the two ran off.

They trekked through the forest until they found some more of the leaves Numa said would smoke like crazy.

“We’ll meet up back at this fire in a few hours,” Padmé said as the two built the fire.

“Sounds good,” Numa said before Padmé left and Numa went to build and light the other fires. Padmé started to smell the smoke from the first fire. The careers noticed it. She saw the boy from 1 become intrigued by it as she got a little closer to the cornucopia. The careers talked amongst themselves for a moment before the boy from 4 went after it. Padmé made sure to keep herself hidden.

About 15 minutes later, the careers gather once again and this time the boy from 4 heads out, leaving both tributes from District 2 at the cornucopia. Padmé knew she wouldn’t be able to sneak past the boy or the girl from 2 and would surely lose in a physical fight. She decided to move to a different spot in the trees where she would be a little closer to him. That way, she could shoot an arrow at him.

This was risky however because if her aim wasn’t exactly right, she was done for. He was faster than her, and much bigger than her and the girl from 2 would surely join the fight.

But before she could aim, she heard a scream and it sounded like Numa. Of the girls left in the arena, it wasn’t herself, and the girl from 2 not only doesn’t have as high of a pitch to her voice but is still at the cornucopia so it had to be Numa. Padmé raced through the woods to find her.

She finds Numa in a clearing, in the process of making her third fire but she is trapped under a net. One of the careers must have figured out their plan and somehow figured out that this was the clearing Numa would go to in order to light another fire. Numa is trying to get out of the net but it’s no use, a snare is keeping her secure.

Padmé used her knife she got from Obi-Wan to cut through the next to free her. She does this quickly and Numa stands back up preparing to light the last fire.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, The District 1 male had just thrown a spear at Numa which struck her in the stomach. Neither Padmé nor her had even heard or seen him coming. Padmé retaliated and shot him in the chest with her bow and arrow, killing him instantly as indicated by the cannon. However, Numa soon fell to the ground, quickly dying.

“Padmé?” she weakly said as she reached for Padmé’s hand.

“Yes?”

“Sing for me? Your voice reminds me of my mother.”

Padmé began to sing a lullaby as the girl lay on the ground dying. Padmé maintained a hold on her hand the whole time. Despite having tears in her eyes, the girl smiled before Padmé felt the grip loosen and heard a cannon go off. She was gone. However, Padmé needed to do something special for her, to show the Capitol that she’s not just a piece in their games. No child deserves this fate, especially not someone as young and innocent as Numa. Padmé picked a bunch of flowers and tucked them underneath her lifeless body. Padmé also made a bouquet and placed them in her dead hands. Padmé finally closed the girl’s eyes and walked away but not before doing the District 12 respect symbol to the cameras.

Padmé crumpled not to far from the display she had made and began to sob. Despite only having known Numa for a day or 2, the girl had become her friend and someone she could trust. She lay there crying until she heard an announcement.

_"The rules regarding the requirement of a single victor have been suspended, two victors may be crowned if both originate from the **same** district". This will be the only announcement."_

She quickly dried her tears and got up, running away from the body, towards someone familiar.


	7. Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padmé looks for Anakin while Anakin runs into problems of his own

Anakin had just come across the boy from 4. He quickly ran away so the boy wouldn’t see him, but it was no use. The boy caught sight of Anakin.

"Look who we have here!" the boy said maliciously when he saw Anakin.

Anakin threw his spear at the boy and hit his hand. The boy then ran for him. Anakin ran too but the career tribute was much faster, and the two boys started to fight. During this, Anakin could faintly hear an announcement, but the boy punched Anakin in the nose, distracting him from the announcement and causing him to focus his attention on the boy. Anakin punched him in the jaw, causing the boy to stammer. Anakin took that opportunity to get the boy on the ground before he wrapped his arms around the boy’s neck, trying to choke him while keeping his knee on the boy’s chest, hopefully keeping him on the ground long enough for Anakin to kill him. However, the boy’s hands were not pinned down and he took the opportunity to stab Anakin’s arm, forcing him off of the boy. Anakin quickly got up, pulled the knife out of his arm and ran.

* * *

Padmé searched through the forest, hoping to find a hint of where Anakin could be. Padmé stopped when she found a little blood onto the ground. She decided to follow it, hoping it would lead her to Anakin.

* * *

Anakin seemed to think the wound was only a scratch as he ran. He tried to take advantage of the head start he had so that he could check out the wound and assess the damage. He sat on a log to check out his wound and noticed that he was bleeding heavily and that the wound was also quite deep. He used the knife to tear some fabric away from his pants and tied it around the wound, hoping to stop the bleeding when out of nowhere the District 4 boy found him again. Clearly, this boy was a lot faster than Anakin. Anakin moved to throw the knife that the boy stabbed him with but before Anakin could throw the knife or the boy could throw the spear, an arrow went into the boy’s chest.

Although he was feeling weaker, Anakin looked around and noticed Padmé with her bow still held up until the cannon went off. Immediately after, Anakin took the spear the boy was preparing to throw, and Padmé rushed over to Anakin and helped him into a cave nearby.

“I’m so glad I found you. Maybe now we can both win” Padmé said.

“What?” Anakin questioned.

“Did you not hear the announcement?” Padmé asked.

Anakin did faintly hear someone talking while fighting with the boy but he was too worried about saving his own life to listen.

“Not quite. They only announce things once,” Anakin joked as he winced in pain.

“Two people can win if they’re from the same district and I remembered you were still alive.”

“But I’m not in the greatest shape,” Anakin said as arm began to feel more rubbery, likely due to blood loss.

“You didn’t tie this nearly tight enough,” Padmé said as she readjusted Anakin’s strip of fabric. Tying it much tighter.

“Why are you doing this? Why were you so eager to look for me?” Anakin asked. Padmé hadn’t exactly had a warm reception to his love confession. She didn’t hate him, but she seemed more indifferent before the games.

Padmé leaned down and kissed Anakin. Anakin could not believe it and he was sad when the kiss ended but Padmé cuddled up to him as Anakin put an arm around her. 

* * *

Some of the victors had come to Obi-Wan's penthouse again. This time, there were fewer, only Ahsoka, Rex, Jesse, Fives, Echo, Cody, and Kix showed up. 

"How does it feel losing a tribute" Obi-Wan teased, knowing that for once, he still had not just one, but both tributes still alive at the final four. 

"It's not the first time" Cody said, reminding Obi-Wan that District 2 doesn't win every year. "My district could still pull this off," Cody said smugly while crossing his arms

"When you're done with your dick measuring contest, your tributes are up to something," Fives said to Obi-Wan.

When Obi-Wan and Cody turned back to the screen, Padmé had her lips locked onto Anakin's. 

"You call that a kiss?" Fives said, talking to the holo screen. 

"I bet you'd know all about a kiss" Echo said in a snarky tone. 

Fives rolled his eyes and said "enough so that I don't kiss like that" Fives said with a chuckle.

"C'mon, you gotta admit that it was cute," Rex said, "being experienced would ruin the moment considering they're teenagers" Rex continued. 

"Fine" Fives said, relenting to his friends.

"I'm gonna write what Fives said onto my note" Obi-Wan said with a chuckle as his comm link went off, indicating that sponsors were trying to contact him.

* * *

“So, how did you find me?” Anakin asked, breaking the silence.

“I noticed a few drops of blood and I followed it,” Padmé said.

“Thanks, by the way,” Anakin said.

“How’s your arm doing?” Padmé asked.

“Honestly, not much better. It hurts but it’s not bleeding” Anakin said as he unwrapped the strip of fabric.”

“Great!” Padmé said excitedly.

“I got some burn medicine from Obi-Wan, maybe it could help this wound?” Anakin asked.

“it’s better than nothing,” Padmé said as she applied the ointment onto Anakin’s wounds.

“Thanks again,” Anakin said.

“Numa showed me some medicinal leaves, if only she were here to tell me which ones help what. Then I’d be able to help some more. I think a few of the leaves she used are growing around here. I could get those for you” Padmé said as she got up to go outside the cave to look for some leaves.

Anakin didn’t say anything for a moment. He hesitated before speaking again but decided to ask anyway.

“Can I assume she was one of the cannons I heard earlier?” Anakin asked. He dreaded asking this because based on what Padmé had just said, she was likely allied with her. Padmé nodded as tears started to form in her eyes. “Her and the boy from 1,” Padmé managed to say before leaving to find some leaves.

Padmé decided to take a minute and cry as she searched for leaves. Even seeing some of the leaves reminded her of Numa. If she had a choice, she’d rather be with Numa than Anakin right now. Anakin was alright but knowing he’s madly in love with her while Padmé barely knows him makes this awkward right off the bat. She just knows she should play the lovers card to get sponsors. Playing some form of that card has worked for other tributes before. Although it almost always ends in one killing the other, usually in their sleep. Padmé remembered one victor from a few years ago from another district that used that strategy on multiple people, giving himself the win. However, it seemed to be Padmé’s most viable option considering as of this moment, the two of them could go home should they outlast everyone else. Padmé knows Anakin would have her back so she should also have his. Besides, acting couldn’t be that hard, Anakin was easy on the eyes even after some time in the arena.

Padmé came back to the cave with the leaves and chewed them up before sitting down and applying them to his arm. That’s what Numa did with the leaves on Padmé’s hands. She also remembered the particular leaf she has from the survival station in the training centre. Plantago major, which is useful for cuts, sores and wounds if made into a paste. Hopefully, she did it properly. It certainly wasn’t really hygienic, but it would have to do.

Anakin noticed that Padmé looked like she had been crying. Anakin placed a hand on her cheek.

“Everything ok?” Anakin asked with genuine concern. 

“I’ll be fine.”

“You can talk to me. Is it about-” Anakin begins to ask before he is cut off by Padmé.

“Yea” Padmé said, starting to feel her eyes tearing up again. Anakin tried to comfort her as best he could. He wrapped Padmé into a hug using his one good arm. His other arm was not good for doing a whole lot. Padmé seemed to appreciate the gesture as she rested her head onto his shoulder.

Padmé lifted her head after a couple of minutes before describing what happened right before she found Anakin.

“So, me and Numa had this plan to steal some of the careers supplies. We were gonna make a bunch of fires to distract them. She lit the fires, I scouted out the supplies and would make the move for it. But it all went wrong because she got trapped in a snare. I cut her out but then she got stabbed by the boy from one. I killed him but” Padmé paused for a minute before saying “but it was too late.”

“At least she had someone like you to comfort her as she died,” Anakin said, trying to reassure Padmé.

“I guess, although I don’t think dying by having a spear shot into the stomach is very comfortable.”

“No, I wouldn’t imagine,” Anakin said.

“I did honour her wish for me to sing to her. She said my voice reminded her of her mother” Padmé said.

“If it helps, Numa’s in a much better, less cruel place now. She did not deserve to be in this arena. You likely made this horrible experience much better for her,” Anakin said.

“I just wish she hadn’t had to go through it at all,” Padmé said.

Anakin moved his bad arm as much as he possibly could to wipe away the tears that started to fall onto Padmé’s face. The two decided to lay down on the cave floor with Anakin keeping his arm around Padmé.

The two lay in each other’s arms for a while until Padmé heard the faint chime of the sponsor gift container. Anakin had fallen asleep so Padmé wriggled out of his arms to find it. She looked into a bush near the cave and found it. She went back into the cave and opened it. The sound of Padmé opening it woke Anakin.

“Padmé?” Anakin groggily said.

“We got a sponsor gift” Padmé responded as she opened it. Anakin and Padmé were low on food so Padmé was ecstatic to find some soup and a little bit of bread. Despite his weakened state, Anakin immediately recognized the bread as Tessera bread. It was lumpy and dense but it did good in a pinch. Anakin took out Tesserae every year for his mom, himself and his stepfather every year since he was 13, right after Owen died in the games. Owen was taking tesserae before.

Padmé read the note from Obi-Wan “Stay alive, but please learn to kiss better. I can’t believe you call that a kiss.” Padmé giggled at the note and proceeded to kiss Anakin to show Obi-Wan a kiss before feeding him some of the soup.

“I was expecting your medicine to be honest,” Padmé said.

“Padmé I’ll be fine. I promise.”

Anakin’s arm was worsening, and the cut seemed to be getting infected despite all the medicinal leaves Padmé tried to use. 

“Your arm doesn’t look any better,” Padmé said in protest while shoving a spoonful of soup into his mouth.

“Please shove soup in my mouth next time you want me to shut up,” Anakin said while laughing.

“Don’t worry, you’re getting another spoonful very soon,” Padmé said teasingly while holding the spoon in her hand. Anakin couldn’t help but smile as he played with Padmé’s braid.

_“Commencing at sunrise, there will be a feast at the cornucopia. Each of you needs something, desperately and we hope to be generous hosts. This will be the only announcement”_ Mas Amedda's booming voice said into the arena for all the tributes to hear.

“Huh! They really do announce things only once” Anakin said, reflecting on how he hadn’t bothered pay attention to the announcement earlier in the day.

“That’s probably your medicine,” Padmé said as they heard the announcement.

“Padmé, it’s too risky. I don’t want to lose you just because you went to get something for me,” Anakin said.

“You’re certainly in no condition to go, you throw spears with your right arm from what I saw in the training centre and your right arm is the one that got stabbed. Besides, I’m armed to the teeth with knives and a bow, I’ll be fine.” Padmé said.

“Padmé, no,” Anakin said.

Padmé fed him another spoonful of soup. They didn’t talk about the feast anymore that night. Anakin and Padmé finished the soup and bread before trying to go to sleep. Anakin played with a stray strand of hair in her face while Padmé also ran her hands through Anakin’s hair. He must have given himself a haircut shortly before coming into the arena, but it suited him. Padmé had to remind herself that this was an act and to not get too attached to the thought of Anakin. She barely knew the boy outside of the days leading up to the games and besides, it was likely that one or both of them would be killed.

Anakin kissed her on the cheek and Padmé could feel herself blushing, but the cave was quite dark other than the one camera on the other side of the cave, so Anakin probably didn’t see it unless he put his hand on her cheek and noticed that it was hot. Padmé sat up and kissed him on his forehead. She could barely see him but she could tell he smiled as Padmé laid back down, nestling herself into Anakin’s arms for the night as the two start to fall asleep.

The nights were quite cold in contrast to the daytime which was often absurdly hot with a jacket on yet freezing when the jacket is taken off. Having Anakin nearby certainly helped keep Padmé warm during the cold night. She would’ve thought he had a fever if she hadn’t kissed his forehead earlier.

The sun started to rise as Padmé slowly got up from her slumber, trying not to wake Anakin. He certainly wouldn’t want Padmé to go to the feast but Padmé couldn’t bring herself not to, especially when she saw Anakin’s arm. It was not looking so good. The arm was swollen and there was some pus coming out of it when Padmé peeked under the leaves. There was also a ton of redness around the wound. Anakin needed that medicine, no question.

Padmé got up and grabbed her bow. She decided to leave her hunting knife so that Anakin would know where she was gone.

* * *

Padmé set off for the cornucopia. She saw three bags, each labelled 2,11 and 12. Padmé needed to watch out for Waxer and the tributes from 2. Waxer was strong but the tributes from 2 are the ones Padmé fears more, they’re strong and the only other team left. Padmé looked around to see that nobody was there so she decided to make a run for the bag labelled 12.

She ran to the bag and when she moved to grab it she was taken down by the girl from 2. The two tumbled around for a bit before ending up near the side of the cornucopia. Padmé took out one of the throwing knives she stole and cut the girl’s face. The girl from 2 moved to pin Padmé down and was successful due to her strength. She kept her foot onto Padmé’s hand as she took out her axe, held it to Padmé’s neck and started to taunt her.

“Where’s loverboy? You were going to help him, weren’t you?” The girl said, she noticed Padmé getting angry and moving her hand to take out another throwing knife. The girl decided to place both her knees onto Padmé’s wrists, keeping her weight directly onto them while her feet were now between Padmé’s arms and her knives before moving the axe even closer to Padmé’s neck than it was before.

“That’s too bad. First, we killed your friend before you could help her, what was her name? I can’t think of it.” the girl said, trying to make Padmé angry. It was working quite well, Padmé was seething with anger at the thought of the girl reducing Numa to a nameless victim.

“Numa, that’s it. First, we killed her, we’ll find lover boy later and kill him too, but now, I’m going to kill you”, the girl said as she raised her axe, preparing to kill Padmé. Aside from her anger, the only other thought in Padmé’s brain was of Anakin. She worried for what will happen to him after she was gone, she was pained at the thought of him grieving her death when he had no idea what happened to her and him likely blaming himself after putting two and two together and realizing she went to the feast for him, when all of a sudden, the girl was pulled off of her.

A taller boy, Waxer grabbed the girl from 2 by the hood of her jacket and placed his arms around her neck as he began yelling “you kill her?”

The girl who was seconds away from killing Padmé was now pleading to an unrelenting Waxer for her life, “No! It wasn’t me!”

“You just said her name!” Waxer yelled, not waiting to hear any pleas for mercy.

“LUCA!” She called out, presumably to her district partner, it wasn’t much use though as Waxer bashed her head against the metal cornucopia multiple times before dropping her to the ground. The cannon hadn’t gone off yet but there was no way that she was going to attack anyone at the moment, not when she had a dent into her skull. Waxer then turned to Padmé and asked: “you were friends with Numa?”

“Yea, I tried to save her by stealing the career’s supplies that they had hoarded, but things didn’t go our way. The boy from 1 got her. I even sang to her as she died, like she asked” Padmé said, hoping it will spare her from Waxer.

“You kill him?” Waxer asked.

“Yes,” Padmé said.

Waxer looked down at the ground and closed his eyes for a moment, as if grieving Numa’s death too. They must have known one another back in 11, Padmé thought.

“Just this once. For Numa. But if I see you again, I won’t be so eager to spare you”. Waxer said as he ran off with his bag.

Padmé got up and picked up her bag and bow before racing back into the woods. As she slips back into the trees, she hears Luca emerge and she notices him rush over to her body and try to shake her, but he knows deep down it is no use, despite this, he continues shaking her and saying her name although Padmé cannot hear what he is saying.

Padmé quickly ran further into the woods as a cannon goes off for her.

* * *

Anakin was looking around outside the cave with his spear in his left hand when Padmé returned. Padmé was relieved to see him once more.

“Where were you? I heard the cannon and noticed you weren’t there and I was terrified, thinking you had gone to the feast and gotten yourself killed,” Anakin said in a frenzy as he threw his good arm around Padmé, making sure the spear didn’t stab her. Padmé leaned into the hug, wanting nothing more than to be in his arms. Anakin was shocked by this sudden gesture, Padmé only cuddled into him at night and to his knowledge, she didn’t feel strongly towards him in any way other than being allies.

“I got your medicine,” Padmé said as she pulled away and held up the bag. Anakin noticed the marks on her wrist.

“What happened?” Anakin asked as the two went back into the cave.

“The girl from 2, she tried to gut me” Padmé confessed. She was shocked how easy it was to confess this to him considering that she did this behind his back.

“Did you kill her?” Anakin asked as he sat down.

“No, Waxer heard her talk about Numa and did it for me, although I did manage to cut her face,” Padmé said as she took the medicine out of the bag. There’s a different ointment plus some antibiotics to cure any infection. Anakin used some of the water left in his canteen to swallow the pills as Padmé puts cream on the wound. Anakin looks at her and says “we could go home.”

He has a huge smile on his face. Padmé couldn’t help but smile back before repeating what he said. “We could go home,” Padmé said as the two hugged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh I was originally going to make the tributes from 2 Saw and Steela but I scrapped it because Steela would be really out of character (I don't think Steela would taunt Padmé before killing her nor would she decapitate a girl out of nowhere when the girl didn't attack her first) and I found another use for Saw that I think fits his character better


	8. Victory and Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 74th Hunger Games comes to a shocking end

The next morning, Anakin was looking much better. His arm was much less swollen. Their chances at going back to 12 were getting better and better. Anakin and Padmé decided to go out and find their own food today.

“So, I’ll take the bow” Anakin teased.

“If you’re taking the bow, I’m taking the spear” Padmé retorted.

The two of them laughed before Anakin spoke again. “I’ll take this way and you take this way, we’ll meet back here in an hour or two.”

“Who said you were the boss” Padmé teased before going in her assigned direction. Anakin’s gaze lingered for a moment as Padmé started in one direction. He smiled before going in his own direction.

Anakin came across some berries. He picked the blueberries, a few cloudberries too. Anakin walked some more to some other bushes to pick a few more berries. Anakin couldn’t believe all the nightlock in the bushes. "It’s almost as if the gamemakers are trying to kill us, oh wait", Anakin thought as a cannon went off. Anakin worried for a moment until a few seconds later when Padmé bumped into him while running. 

“Everything okay?” Anakin said as he put his arms on her shoulders.

“I heard the cannon and I was so worried,” Padmé said frantically.

“It’s okay, I’m still here, we can still go home,” Anakin said as he consoled her. Padmé looked into Anakin’s hand after and noticed some nightlock berries amongst the other blueberries he had.

“Anakin! That’s nightlock!”

“I would’ve figured out that pretty quickly when I prepared to eat them,” Anakin said.

Anakin noticed a handful of berries that Padmé had that also included nightlock.

“Seems you got some nightlock too,” Anakin said with a hint of worry in his voice before scooping the nightlock into his hands.

“What are you doing?” Padmé asked.

“Maybe we can set a trap,” Anakin said.

“For Luca I assume,” Padmé said. Anakin looked confused by the use of a name.

“That’s his name. I heard the girl from 2 call out to him at the feast” Padmé said.

“Hopefully Luca doesn’t have the brains to tell these apart,” Anakin said.

Before they could do anything, Padmé and Anakin noticed it started to get dark much earlier than normal.

“They’re probably preparing for their grand finale,” Anakin said to Padmé as they hear loud cheering sounds, but those cheers quickly became growls as giant wolves approach them. The duo ran for their lives until they arrive at the cornucopia. Anakin gives Padmé a boost so that she can get on top first and pull Anakin up to get away from the wolves. One of the wolves scratched his leg on the way up. Everything seemed fine when out of nowhere the boy from District 2 joins them and the three begin to fight.

He tries to choke Padmé first, but Anakin threw a spear at him, it missed but it was distracting enough for him to let her go and target Anakin. Anakin punches him in the side, bringing him down to the ground. Anakin went to pick up his spear but the boy from 2 retaliates taking the opportunity of targetting a weaponless Anakin. The boy quickly puts Anakin into a headlock and as he is about to slit Anakin’s throat, Padmé has her arrow aimed at him.

“Interesting turn of events. Do it, you take us both down and you win.” The boy says as he tightens his hold on Anakin. There is blood coursing down his face, possibly from the wolves. Padmé shifts the arrow’s aim for the boy’s head.

“Nah nah. If you shoot me, he's going down with me.” He says before pausing. “I only wanted to make my district proud. Killing is all I’m good at anyways. Do it, claim your victory.”

Anakin gestures his head towards the boy’s hand, indicating to Padmé to shoot the boy’s hand. She does that, forcing him to let go of Anakin who then pushes him off the cornucopia and into the awaiting wolf pack.

The boy screamed in agony as the wolves ripped his flesh apart. His screams etched their way into their memories before Padmé shoots the boy one more time, this time as an act of mercy.

The two slide off the cornucopia once it suddenly becomes daylight again, thinking they just won the games when they hear another announcement.

_“The previous rule change stipulating that 2 people from the same district could win has been revoked. Only one victor can be crowned.”_ But Anakin had a plan, he still had the nightlock in his pocket.

Padmé and Anakin looked to one another in shock and horror of the new announcement. Padmé allowed her thumb to graze the arrow for a moment but then she realized that she couldn’t kill Anakin. She couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“Ani, they have to have their victor, you deserve this more than I do" Padmé paused before continuing "your family needs the winnings more than mine does. Kill me.” 

Anakin looked down at the ground for a moment, realizing that he'd rather die than not be with Padmé.

“No, they don’t,” Anakin said as he pulled out a handful of nightlock that he had kept in his pocket. This was not only an act of defiance to the tyrannical Capitol, but also as an act of love for the one girl he had ever loved. 

“Ani?” Padmé asked as Anakin gave her half of the pile.

“On 3,” Anakin said with conviction, His eyes locked onto Padmé’s, taking every feature of this beautiful woman in before he eats the poisonous berries.

“1,” Anakin said.

“2,” Padmé said.

As Anakin is about to say 3, the head gamemaker, Mas Amedda quickly takes the mic and frantically said **“Stop! Stop!"** He caught his breath before saying "I present the victors, of the 74th annual hunger games. Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala.” 

They hugged as the hovercraft comes down to collect them from the arena. They were both going to go home.

* * *

The first thing that happened after the games were that Anakin and Padmé were separated to assess the toll the games took on them. In particular Anakin’s arm. Anakin sat on the table where a doctor was checking out his arm. Applying some sort of advanced Capitol medicine to truly rid his body of any infection and stitched up the wound as well as the scratch the wolves gave him at the cornucopia.

When they returned to the comforts of the training centre, the first thing that Padmé and Anakin had to do was clean themselves up. While Threepio got to work on a dress for Padmé and Artoo worked on a suit for Anakin to wear at the crowning ceremony and for their interview with Hondo the next day. A new pair of pajamas were laid out onto both Anakin and Padmé’s beds. They shimmered more than the satin pajamas he had worn before the games had started. They felt relatively similar though when Anakin touched them. He put on the red pajamas and headed to the dinner table. Padmé was wearing a similar pair except that they were pink. She smiled at him as they sat down to dinner.

“Do you like the new pajamas, I picked them out myself. They’re real silk, can you imagine?” Satine said.

“Wow,” Anakin said, not knowing the difference between satin and silk.

“Don’t worry about her, I don’t know the difference either” Obi-Wan said as if he knew what Anakin was thinking.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi!” Satine said as if she were his mother.

“What are you gonna do, put me in timeout,” Obi-Wan teased.

“I’m tempted,” Satine said as Artoo and Threepio walked in.

“Congratulations oh my!” Threepio said as he and Artoo sat down at the table.

“Thanks, Threepio,” Padmé said.

“I’m so glad I got to see you both again!” Artoo said as an avox began serving dinner.

The dinner was lobster thermidor with some green vegetables that make a light yet fresh salad, with a lemon wedge on the side to squeeze over the food. Another avox brought out champagne to enjoy with the meal.

“I hope you enjoy this last supper before going back to your districts,” Satine said.

Anakin, with a piece of lobster in his mouth, said “Oh we will considering we’ve survived off of woodpeckers, frogs, berries, and the occasional sponsor gift for the last little while.”

“Manners!” Satine called out to him.

“Give him a break, he did just get out of the arena and he won the hunger games,” Artoo said.

“Regardless, let’s toast to our two wonderful victors!” Obi-Wan said.

“I agree, here here,” Satine said as everyone clinked champagne glasses.

After dinner, Obi-Wan wanted to surprise Anakin and Padmé by introducing them to some of the other victors, it was tradition. He went downstairs only to find that many victors had already been escorted out. This was odd considering that any victors left in the Capitol at this point were sent home at the same time as the newly crowned victor is. He saw Ahsoka, Rex, Fives, Echo, and Hardcase being escorted out individually by peacekeepers. This was odd as victors from the same district like Ahsoka and Rex, and Echo and Hardcase were generally escorted by 1 team of peacekeepers, not two. He went to find Cody on the District 2 floor. When he got there, Cody was outside pacing the floor. Cody noticed Obi-Wan and looked around before walking up to him. He seemed paranoid.

“You can’t be here,” Cody said.

“Why, what’s happening. I saw Ahsoka, Rex, Fives, Echo, and Hardcase being escorted out individually by peacekeepers.”

Cody looked around once more before whispering. “The Capitol really doesn’t like the berry stunt. We can’t have our own celebrations because they’re escorting us all out to try and quell any rebellion. I overheard some peacekeepers talking about it. They're cracking down on interaction between the districts.”

Cody began to hear footsteps coming closer to the door of the apartment.

“You have to go now,” Cody said as he dragged Obi-Wan to the elevator. As the doors closed. He heard peacekeepers talking to Cody.

“Let’s go,” a peacekeeper said sternly to Cody before escorting him out.

* * *

Obi-Wan and Anakin met on the terrace of the training centre.

“The capitol is angry with you and Padmé,” Obi-Wan said.

“Well sorry, I wasn’t what the Capitol wanted,” Anakin said in a snarky tone.

“No! It’s not that. This is serious. You made them look like fools with the berry stunt. They don’t take these things lightly. Take it from me kid. They will go after you if you don’t conform.”

“How can I do that?” Anakin asked.

“Just do whatever they ask you. They ask you to jump, you ask how high. Got it.”

Anakin nodded his head in response. 

He then went inside where Artoo, Satine, Threepio, and Padmé were watching a compilation of best moments from this year's games.

“There you are! Finally!” Threepio said. “Look Look! It’s the first time you two kissed. So romantic” Threepio continued.

Anakin decided to kiss Padmé in front of the stylists to get a reaction.

“You two are so cute!” Threepio said.

“What other moments are they featuring on this thing?” Anakin said as he sat down next to Padmé.

“Looks like the feast is getting featured” Artoo said.

Padmé became slightly embarrassed as she went to the feast behind Anakin’s back although she did tell the truth about what happened.

Padmé was intrigued though as they were showing some perspectives that the audience had that Padmé didn’t.

One of which was the conversation the careers had beforehand.

“Which of us is going to go?” Luca asked.

“I’ll go,” the girl from 2 said.

“What? I think I should because I’m the stronger of us. We need that bag so I could give us a better chance at getting it” Luca said.

“Yea but that’s no fun. I want to give the audience a good show. That’s all they want. Padmé and Anakin are for sure working together now so one of them is gonna get the bag, I could probably take them down a peg, make it easier for us to go back home” The girl from 2 said.

Luca thought this over for a minute before saying “Fine. But I’ll be nearby but deep enough into the woods so that Waxer, Anakin, or Padmé don’t see me”.

Another one was where Waxer walked in and surveyed the scene of the tussle between Padmé and the girl from 2. He stealthily snuck around the cornucopia. He was preparing to run and get his item when he started to hear what the girl from 2 was saying.

_“Numa, that’s it. First, we killed her, we’ll find lover boy later and kill him too, but now, I’m going to kill you”_

Upon hearing Numa’s name, Waxer approached and took the girl off of Padmé, bashed her head on the cornucopia, and made his way to Padmé.

“You didn’t tell me you pleaded for your life,” Anakin said as he turned to Padmé.

“What? Did you expect him to just spare me?”

“Fair point” Anakin conceded. 

They then saw another perspective that they couldn’t see in the arena, that was Luca shaking the girl from 2.

“Don’t do this to me Livia! Stay with me please!” Luca said as he shook her body as if hoping by some miracle that she would come back to life, perfectly fine even though there was a clear dent in her skull. He leaned over her body before letting her go, taking the bag and dashing into the forest.

“Did they have something going on?” Anakin asked the stylists.

“Not romantically but they did become really close,” Artoo said.

“I don’t think I can watch anymore,” Padmé said before going into her room. Anakin followed her shortly after.

Padmé sat on her bed crying.

Anakin lets Padmé unload as she rested her head on his shoulders.

“We won but at what cost? We killed or contributed to killing people who were like us, had families, friends. It makes me so sick that people here just watch this and can create a best moments compilation!”

“It makes me sick too,” Anakin said reassuringly.

“How can we live with what we have done,” Padmé said.

“I don’t know but we can learn that together,” Anakin said.

“Maybe Obi-Wan can help us too. After all, the three of us are all going to be neighbours now” Padmé said.

“True.”

“I think I’m going to go to sleep,” Padmé said.

“Do you want me to leave then?” Anakin asked.

“No, I’d rather you stay honestly,” Padmé said.

“Whatever you ask,” Anakin said as he got into the bed with Padmé, holding her as she fell asleep.

The next day was the interview with Hondo. Threepio presented Padmé with the dress she’d be wearing. It is a soft, pastel pink. A stark contrast to the usual dresses with oranges and deep reds.

“No fire today?” Padmé joked.

“Nope, not today,” Threepio said as he put the dress on. It was a floor-length gown with sparkles placed all around.

“This might be my favourite one yet,” Padmé said as she looked into the mirror.

“Really? It’s the simplest one I’ve made yet” Threepio said.

“You’ve also only had to make 1 victor dress,” Padmé said.

Threepio chuckled “Yes but I meant of all the looks I’ve created so far for you”.

“Simplicity isn’t a bad thing; you should try it sometime,” Padmé said with a mischievous smile.

Meanwhile, Artoo presented Anakin with his suit.

“Another suit” Anakin groaned.

“I don’t make the rules for what you’re supposed to wear,” Artoo said.

“I know but shouldn’t you start trends?” Anakin said.

“Maybe but there’s a fine line between trendsetting and looking stupid on stage with Hondo which is easier to do than you think so c’mon,” Artoo said as he helped Anakin put on the suit. It was a dark grey with white sparkles.

“I’d like this more if it weren’t so uncomfortable” Anakin joked.

“You’ve worn a suit before, you know this is what it’s like. Besides, it’ll only be on for a few hours, then you’ll only need to wear one once a year. Unless you’re somehow reaped and become a victor again which knowing you could easily happen” Artoo joked.

“Hey!”

“You did manage to convince the Capitol to allow 2 victors which I would’ve never predicted so it’s not a stretch,” Artoo said as he made the finishing touches.

The special was three hours long and it started with Anakin and Padmé being escorted onto two chairs. They originally came out hand in hand but were forced to let go of one another to sit down. The two victors then began to watch a video. Padmé had a look of horror in her eyes as the two watched. It was each death of their fellow tributes. The first few were fast, bloodbath deaths. The boy from 8 being killed by Luca, Livia decapitating the girl from 9 among others, then there was Anakin killing the boy from 3. Then Livia killing the girl from 7. Anakin cringed at that death; he had heard it but didn’t actually see her die. Padmé moved to hold Anakin’s hand. This was probably just as traumatic for her as it was for him. Then the girls from 1 and 4 being stung to death, the girl from 5 eating the nightlock. The next one was the hardest one for Padmé, Numa’s death. She squeezed Anakin’s hand, trying not to cry on national television. She had seen other victors go through this on TV but now that she had to watch it herself, she had no idea how they all did it alone. Numa’s death and the rest of the deaths were much more personal as Anakin and Padmé had a hand at killing all of them except Waxer. The special showed Padmé killing the boys from 1 and 4, Waxer killing Livia, and then Waxer’s death by Luca and being trampled by wolves right after. Finally, they showed Luca’s death. The montage was over.

After the montage ended, Palpatine stood in front of the victors and spoke to them personally, “we are grateful for the courage and the sacrifices that you have shown in the arena. Your district is very proud of you and you two should be proud of yourselves, for you have survived where others have fallen short.” He then turned to the camera and said “Without further ado, I would like to officially crown the victors of the 74th annual Hunger Games.”

Palpatine picked up the first crown and turned to Anakin. Anakin stood up as Palpatine placed the victor’s crown on his head. He then went to take the other crown and walked towards Padmé who too accepted the crown.

“Let’s have a round of applause nationwide for our victors, Anakin Skywalker, and Padmé Amidala!” Palpatine said. Anakin knew that the only people applauding are those in the Capitol.

Next was the interview with Hondo. He started his show by making a few opening remarks.

“We have experienced yet another exciting Hunger Games season! Before we close the book on another exciting year, we would like to welcome our victors, of the 74th Annual Hunger Games! Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala! Come on out!” Hondo said as Anakin and Padmé walked onto the stage, hand in hand with their victor crowns on their heads.

“I’m so glad to see you both again!” Hondo cheerfully says.

“We’re glad to see you again too,” Padmé says with a smile.

“I have got to ask the question everyone’s dying to know the answer to, what was your reaction when you found Anakin about to be killed?” Hondo asked while playing that moment from the games.

“I immediately jumped into action to save the one I love so much. I don’t know what I would’ve done had I gotten there just a little too late” Padmé said while turning to Anakin.

“Anakin what was your reaction when you learned that Padmé killed your assailant”.

“I was pretty relieved Hondo. Not only that I lived but that I got to see Padmé again” Anakin said as he leaned over to kiss her.

“Isn’t that sweet!” Hondo said as the audience said “aw” collectively.

“On another note, what do you plan to do with the winnings from the games?”

“Honestly, I don’t know, I’ve never thought of it, I might get myself a new wardrobe courtesy of Threepio,” Padmé said as the camera panned to Threepio who nervously waved at the camera.

“I love that!” Hondo said before turning to Anakin for his answer.

“My mother struggles with making cheese from her goat so I might get her something to make it easier on her. I’m sorry but nothing can beat her goat cheese” Anakin joked.

“I guess the Capitol will need to compete with her goat cheese then” Hondo joked, causing the audience to laugh.

“That’s a wrap on another amazing Hunger Games season! Thank you, Anakin, and Padmé for a wonderful year and I hope you two have a safe ride back to District 12!”

Anakin and Padmé got off stage and were greeted by Obi-Wan, Satine, Artoo, and Threepio.

“You two did amazing!” Satine said.

“Thank you so much,” Padmé said as everyone went back up to the training centre one last time where Satine, Artoo, and Threepio said goodbye.

Satine hugged Anakin and Padmé and said “I’m so proud of my victors!”

“It was great having you two around, even when Anakin complained about the suits,” Artoo said, causing everyone to laugh.

“I didn’t give you _that_ hard of a time,” Anakin said.

“Ok, I will admit I like you,” Artoo said.

“I hope to see you two again soon,” Threepio said.

Satine walked up to Obi-Wan before they left and said “Take care of yourself please”.

“Don’t worry my dear, I always do” Obi-Wan said as they gave each other a hug.

“See you next year!” Obi-Wan said as he left with the newly minted victors to go home.

* * *

“So, what comes next?” Padmé asked Obi-Wan once they got on the train.

“Well, not a whole lot until the victory tour where you’ll go through each district. After that, you only get taken out once a year to mentor new tributes although only 2 of us need to go. Though I might tag along to mentor you about mentoring” Obi-Wan joked.

“Thanks, Obi-Wan. For everything you’ve done” Anakin said.

“You are very welcome, now go on, relax until you get home,” Obi-Wan said before retiring to his quarters.

Anakin and Padmé went to Anakin’s quarters.

“Can I ask you something?” Anakin said.

“Of course,” Padmé replied.

“It’s been on my mind since the arena, but I need to know the answer. Is this an act? Or did you really mean everything you said? Please be honest with me because I love you too much to maintain an act where you don’t feel the same way as I do.”

“I’ll admit I was acting at first, but I don’t think it’s an act anymore,” Padmé said as she looked at Anakin. “I just don’t know how to put it. Do you understand what I mean? Maybe we should give things a try for real” Padmé said.

“I think I get what you mean, I struggle with describing my feelings too. As long as it’s not an act, I’ll give things a try,” Anakin said.

Padmé kissed Anakin. When she pulled away she asked, “Does this answer your question.”

Anakin smiled and said, “yes.”

Anakin still couldn’t believe that he and Padmé had just won the hunger games. Even on the train ride back to District 12 after the games, he still couldn’t believe it. It felt like yesterday he was saying goodbye to his mother, possibly for the last time, now he was returning to 12 with a guarantee to his family that they’d never have to starve again. When Anakin and Padmé stepped off the train and onto the platform, hand in hand. Anakin immediately noticed his mother in the front row. She had the biggest smile on her face and waved happily as she saw her son, alive. Anakin waved back and after getting off the train, ran up to her and gave her a hug. They stayed like that for probably 5 minutes before going to the Justice Building to find out where their new house will be in Victor’s Village.

When Anakin, Shmi, and Cliegg walked into the home, they were amazed at the sheer size. While Anakin knew this was quaint in Capitol standards, it was gigantic in District 12 standards, this home was bigger than most shops in the merchant section, even bigger than the Mayor’s home.

“Home sweet home” Anakin muttered as he went in to claim his room, ready to settle in to his new life but the newfound peace was relatively short-lived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited to post the next chapter, the fic is going to start getting interesting very soon I promise haha. It should be out Thursday (I'm getting some finishing touches finished)   
>  Thank you so much for reading!


	9. 3rd Quarter Quell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin and Padmé may have come home to District 12, but the Capitol wants to get back at them

Since the end of the 74th Hunger Games, everything has changed. It all started with Obi-Wan telling Anakin that the Capitol was angry. Anakin didn’t think too much of it until about a week after arriving home to 12. A load of peacekeepers shipped in, the head peacekeeper was deposed and life in the district was much different. Then Palpatine came to visit Padmé over a man Anakin now knew to be Padmé’s ex-lover attempting to make a move. Palpatine still expressed anger and frustration towards her despite her rejecting the guy. Anakin would have beaten him up had Padmé and the newly minted peacekeeper checkpoints not stopped him. Even the Hob was gone. The day the new head peacekeeper arrived, his first order of business was to burn the black market that Anakin and many other citizens were so fond of. While Anakin no longer needed to worry about money, he felt bad for the average citizen of the district, the one who often went to the Hob to sell things.

Next was the Victory Tour. While he was on the train he saw a monitor of riots in several districts, one scene, in particular, had a man from District 8 holding a sign with the symbol of the rebellion, flames. He and Padmé even seen the symbol graffitied onto overpasses and buildings. The symbolism was not lost on anyone. His and Padmé’s defiance in the arena sparked something in the people. Anakin didn’t fully understand why it did, just that something was sparked the second he took the berries out of his pocket, the second he realized that he’d rather die in the arena than not go home with Padmé in tow.

* * *

_“Ani, they have to have their victor, you deserve this more than I do" Padmé paused before continuing "your family needs the winnings more than mine does. Kill me.”_

_Anakin looked down at the ground for a moment, realizing that he'd rather die than not be with Padmé._

_“No, they don’t,” Anakin said as he pulled out a handful of nightlock that he had kept in his pocket. This was not only an act of defiance to the tyrannical Capitol, but also as an act of love for the one girl he had ever loved._

_“Ani?” Padmé asked as Anakin gave her half of the pile._

_“On 3,” Anakin said with conviction, His eyes locked onto Padmé’s, taking every feature of this beautiful woman in before he eats the poisonous berries._

_“1,” Anakin said._

_“2,” Padmé said._

_As Anakin is about to say 3, the head gamemaker, Mas Amedda quickly takes the mic and frantically said **“Stop! Stop!"** He caught his breath before saying "I present the victors, of the 74th annual hunger games. Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala.” _

* * *

This moment replayed in his head as Anakin prepared to find out what the stipulation for this year’s quarter quell is. Every 25 years, there would be a special hunger games with a stipulation. Obi-Wan had won the second quarter quell where there were double the amount of tributes. Now that he had won, he was promised a life of luxury when compared to everyone else in his district, he would never be reaped for the games again and he had to mentor future tributes.

Anakin and his mother Shmi watch the hologram from President Palpatine. Anakin’s stepfather, Cliegg is in the next room. He still wants nothing to do with the games, despite Anakin winning.

In the 70th Hunger Games, when Owen and his girlfriend, Beru were both reaped, a tsunami ripped through the arena. When they realized it would be impossible to get away and they knew they were going to die, they held hands and cuddled into one another until death took them. It was all the talk that year, even after the victor was crowned. While he appreciated the fruits of Anakin’s winnings, he hated having the spotlight on his family.

_“As you all know, every 25 years, a quarter quell is held. These are a special hunger games with a stipulation drawn from this bowl of scenarios written before the games began.”_ Palpatine says as he drew one from the bowl. A smile formed on his face as he read it. That could easily be chalked up to the Capitol’s love of the Hunger Games. Palpatine read what was wrote on the card _“These games shall serve as a reminder that not even the strongest among them can overpower the capitol. In saying this, this years tributes will be reaped from the existing pool of victors!”_

Shmi put her hands over her mouth in horror, knowing her son may have to go back in again. 

“No!” Anakin yelled at the hologram. Anakin stormed out of the room. Cliegg walked in, wondering why Anakin just stormed out of the room.

“Everything alright?” Cliegg asked Shmi.

“No, they’re reaping from the victors” Shmi managed to say through her tears. “Ani may be reaped again,” Shmi said as Cliegg hugged her.

* * *

Anakin stormed out of the house and went somewhere secluded for a while to process this. He would’ve usually gone to the woods. However, since the new head peacekeeper arrived, the electric fence around 12 was repaired and electrified all the time while before the games, there was a giant hole in the fence and it was rarely electrified. He decided to go to a field near the merchant section after passing through all the peacekeeper checkpoints. He stood there for a few minutes until he heard someone call out his name.

“Anakin! I thought you would be consoling your girlfriend after the horrid news” the voice said.

Anakin turned around and saw Clovis.

“What do you want?” Anakin sneered.

“I’m just amazed at how I somehow lost Padmé to you, yet you aren’t even there to comfort her in what I’m sure is the worst moment of her life, after all, she is the only female victor from this district” Clovis said.

“You need to accept that Padmé has other interests,” Anakin said.

“If you keep acting like this, Padmé will be mine before the reaping” Clovis said. This set Anakin off as he went to punch Clovis. Anakin punched Clovis in the jaw. Clovis recuperated for a moment before saying “you can’t treat me like you did the other tributes”.

“No, but I can treat you worse,” Anakin said as he overpowered Clovis, bringing him to the ground before breaking Clovis’ nose. Clovis’ grunts of pain didn’t deter Anakin from beating him up further before putting his hands around Clovis' neck. It was only when Clovis mustered “Do it, at the end of the day you’re still a tribute meant to kill” that Anakin paused. When he looked back at Clovis, his face morphed into that of the district 4 boy that Anakin tried to choke shortly before Padmé found him. Anakin’s face contorted into one of shame before he got off of Clovis, pulled him up, and ran off, hoping not to look suspicious to any peacekeepers on the way back.

* * *

Meanwhile, Padmé went straight to Obi-Wan’s house, tears streaming down her face. There was nothing anyone could do for her; she was going in for sure. She and Obi-Wan stood around, not saying a word to one another until Obi-Wan broke the silence “So I see you have come to me for advice as if this has ever happened before. Or is this because I was involved in the last quarter quell?” Padmé had no response. Instead, Padmé began sobbing even more, making Obi-Wan appear more sympathetic to her plight.

“I know I’m going in. But I don’t want Anakin to go in with me. He’ll do rash things for sure and he deserves the winnings much more than I do. I’d rather him to stay alive than me” Padmé said. “If they call his name, would you volunteer for him?”

Obi-Wan thought about this for a moment before replying.

“Yes, but if they call my name and he volunteers, there’s nothing I can do” Obi-Wan solemnly said to the female victor.

Padmé leaves shortly before Anakin storms in. His hair and clothes are messed up, more so than usual.

“I see you’ve finally processed things and now decide to come by. Padmé was here 20 minutes ago begging me to save you. So, what request do you have for me? And what the hell happened to you in the last hour?” Obi-Wan asks.

“I just want advice, you said before that the capitol is angry with me,” Anakin said dismissing Obi-Wan’s second question and thinking of what Obi-Wan told him before going back to District 12.

* * *

_Obi-Wan and Anakin met on the terrace of the training centre._

_“The capitol is angry with you and Padmé,” Obi-Wan said._

_“Well sorry, I wasn’t what the Capitol wanted,” Anakin said in a snarky tone._

_“No! It’s not that. This is serious. You made them look like fools with the berry stunt. They don’t take these things lightly. Take it from me kid. They will go after you if you don’t conform.”_

_“How can I do that?” Anakin asked._

_“Just do whatever they ask you. They ask you to jump, you ask how high. Got it.”_

_Anakin nodded his head in response._

* * *

“Yes, they are, and they’re probably taking it out on Padmé.”

“Why though, all she did was go along with me?” Anakin said.

“In their eyes, she’s as guilty as you,” Obi-Wan said.

“What can I do?” Anakin desperately pleaded.

“Don’t do anything stupid first of all, and second, don’t piss off the capitol more than you already have. If you want to keep Padmé alive, you’ll need to think before you do or say anything. You could live a million lifetimes and never deserve someone who looks out for you the way she does. You better show her that her fears aren’t warranted. Now answer my other question, what happened to you?” Obi-Wan said.

“I might have beaten up Rush Clovis,” Anakin said.

“What?! Anakin! First off, that’s the mayor’s son, and second, how did that even happen?”

“I know he’s the mayor’s son but I don’t care. Besides, he was taunting me about having a 50% chance of going back in and claiming that he would’ve been a better boyfriend” Anakin said.

“This is exactly what Padmé was talking about, I can’t say I blame you but still, just avoid Clovis and don’t do anything to piss the Capitol off,” Obi-Wan said.

Later in the day, Anakin showed up at Padmé’s. Padmé's mom, Jobal answered the door. Anakin didn’t even need to ask if Padmé was around before Jobal called out to Padmé. When Padmé came downstairs, tear marks stained her face. Anakin immediately walked up to her and embraced her. Padmé returned the favour, bringing Anakin into her arms, just as she was in Anakin’s arms. They stayed like this for some time, appreciating each other’s company. Until Padmé pulled away.

“We need to talk” Padmé whispered before took Anakin into the office space for some privacy.

“What’s going on?” Anakin asked.

“If I die in that arena, please don’t do anything rash,” Padmé said.

“What makes you think that I would?” Anakin asked.

“I don’t know. I’m just worried. I want you to be able to move on if I don’t make it out of the arena” Padmé said.

“Don’t think like that babe, you’ll make it out,” Anakin said reassuringly as he brought Padmé back into his arms.

“But at what cost, if I make it out, it means either you don’t, or Obi-Wan doesn’t. They certainly won’t let us get away with what we did last year,” Padmé pointed out.

“Reaping day isn’t for another few weeks, we’ll worry about that once we know which of us is going back into the arena with you,” Anakin said as he ran his hand through Padmé’s hair.

“However, before reaping day, there is something I want to ask you, although I don’t have the ring or anything,” Anakin said as he pulled away and got on one knee. “Padmé, will you marry me?” 

Anakin certainly didn’t expect to be asking this question today, he’d rather marry Padmé before any of them went back into the arena.

“Yes!” Padmé said, happily as Anakin got back up and kissed Padmé.

“What prompted this?” Padmé asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

“I’d like to have a glimpse of what our lives would be like together,” Anakin said.

“That would be nice,” Padmé said.

“Now I just need to call a ring company in the Capitol because no one in 12 is making a ring anymore, not since the Hob was burned down,” Anakin said.

“No one in the Merchant section is a jeweler either” Padmé commented.

Anakin picked up the receiver on Padmé’s landline. Only victors and the mayor are allowed to have landlines outside the Capitol. Even then they are quite limited, only allowing calls to Capitol phone numbers.

Anakin dialed a number and got a connection with a Capitol jewelry store.

_"Hello, Panem’s Finest Jewels here, how can I help you?”_

“Hey, I’m looking for a diamond engagement ring for my fiancée,” Anakin said. Calling Padmé his fiancée felt foreign but also nice at the same time. 

_“Wait a minute, I just noticed that this number is from District 12, Anakin?”_

Anakin sighed before he said “yes”.

_“I can make you a super nice engagement ring, the only problem is that it will take a few weeks”._

“Is there any way you can get it done faster?” Anakin asked frustratedly.

_“Well, we got to get the materials shipped in from District 1 and our next shipment isn’t until the end of the week, it then takes about another week to craft the ring to the best quality possible, then another 2 days or so to get it shipped into the district. The reaping is in what? 2 weeks?”_

“Yes,” Anakin said. He turned to Padmé and put his other hand onto his forehead and shaking his head.

_“How about this, I make the ring and I’ll bring it to the training centre and hand-deliver it to you, I’ll surely get special privilege if they know I’m making an engagement ring for the Anakin Skywalker and the Padmé Amidala”_

“Do not leak this anywhere” Anakin demanded.

_“Fine but in that case, I’d probably have to give it to your escort and she’ll deliver it to you. Your escort is Satine Kryze right?”_

“Yes,” Anakin replied.

“ _Oh, I know her! She buys a lot of jewelry from here. Anywho, are you sure you want to place the order?”_

“Yes,” Anakin said.

_“Great, congratulations!”_

The company then hung up.

“What’s wrong?” Padmé asked.

“It will take over two weeks for the ring to be done, we’ll have to get it once we’re in the Capitol” Anakin said.

“We don’t need a ring to be engaged,” Padmé said.

“I know, I just want a token of my love with you,” Anakin said.

* * *

Reaping day came and all cameras are on the most recent victors. Satine arrives in District 12, accompanied by stylists, Threepio and Artoo. They show up at Padmé’s house first before Artoo makes his way across the path to Anakin’s house.

“Oh, Miss Padmé, how good it is to see you again!” Threepio says as he greets her.

“I’ve missed you too Threepio,” Padmé says.

“Threepio has become a legend in the capitol after designing your outfits last year” Satine informs Padmé. Threepio simply shrugs as Padmé looks at him.

“Anyways, cameras will be up in an hour so you must be ready,” Satine said as she tasted one of the biscuits Padmé had made in preparation for her arrival. Padmé’s room was quite girly with pink coloured walls and rose gold bed sheets. Almost a little too pink for Threepio’s taste but he tolerated it while he and his team got Padmé camera ready. 

Artoo was relatively quiet in comparison to Threepio as he swiftly got Anakin camera-ready. Shmi watched in awe as her usually scruffy-looking son was turned into someone who could live in District 1. Not flashy like those who live in the Capitol, that was the one thing Anakin did not want, but he looked like someone who lives in a richer district such as District 1. Once Anakin is ready, his hair is styled and he’s wearing a pair of black jeans with a red V-neck shirt. Not something Anakin would wear in his daily life but it was for the cameras, so this is what Artoo and Satine wanted him to wear.

“At least it’s not a tux,” Anakin said as he looked at his outfit.

Artoo simply chuckled as Artoo began to style his hair. Anakin never styled his hair; it was not something people in district 12 did because most couldn’t afford it. Satine came over after Artoo got Anakin ready. She trusted Padmé to get everything right on camera, but Anakin was not a natural on camera like Padmé was.

“Ok, Anakin when I count to three, you will walk out there to the centre, Padmé will be walking there from the other side. You’ll stop for a minute so Hondo can ask you some questions and then you two are to hold hands as you leave Victor's Village to go to the reaping, understand? All eyes are on you two because you’re the most recent winners” Satine said before Anakin interrupted her “Hello to you too Satine.”

Satine rolled her eyes and said “We are on a tight schedule; the pleasantries can wait” as she made sure Anakin was prepared for the cameras.

When the cameras came on, Satine opened the door for Anakin while Threepio opened the door for Padmé as the two make their way to the centre, in front of a water fountain. Anakin glances down at the camera, it's a small thing pointed up in order to get a full picture. He looks up at Padmé. She is wearing a pastel pink top with lace and a white pencil skirt. This is paired with heels. Padmé was always known for her fashion choices and this outfit was no different, showcasing her love for dresses and skirts, something that she never had too many of before the games. She’s from the merchant section of 12 so she had more money than families from the Seam like Anakin’s.

_“Anakin! Padmé! How has everything been since the last time we saw you?”_ Hondo asked. Hondo was a character for sure, Anakin wasn’t sure how to describe him.

“We’ve been good,” Anakin said. There was a silence as if Hondo was expecting something more substantial.

_“That’s it, you’re just good?”_

“Well, thanks to the capitol we’ve never been closer,” Padmé said.

“I can actually see her house from mine now!” Anakin excitedly said.

Hondo chuckled at Anakin’s remark before saying “ _We’ll see you again when you get to the capitol! Bye for now!”_ Anakin and Padmé waved as they walked hand in hand to the reaping.

Satine ran up behind them and said, “perfect! See that wasn’t too hard!” as Obi-Wan was next to greet the cameras. Anakin overhears Hondo’s question to Obi-Wan, _“How’s having new neighbours?”_ Anakin knew Hondo was referencing how Obi-Wan had been the only victor before Anakin and Padmé’s win.

  
After Obi-Wan caught up with Satine, Anakin, and Padmé at the reaping, everyone takes their place. This reaping was different however, the crowd was not too worried except for Anakin and Padmé’s families. Obi-Wan didn’t have any family left to worry about him, not since the Capitol killed all his loved ones off. Anakin could tell Cliegg was forced to come as usual, it was a crime not to come to the reapings and the excuse of having his only child die in the hunger games was not acceptable. Padmé’s family was crying, Padmé couldn’t look at them, but at the same time, she wanted to see them as much as possible because she may never see them again.

“For the 75th Hunger Games, As President Palpatine said, the tributes are to be reaped from the existing pool of victors. As usual, ladies first” Satine said. As she walked towards the bowl next to Padmé, she gave Padmé a sad look, as if Satine wishes she didn’t have to do this. Satine puts her hand in the bowl and picks out the only slip of paper there. She opens it, already knowing what name is on it. “Padmé Amidala” she solemnly said.

Padmé walked before she stopped to Satine’s right. “Now for the boys,” Satine said as she picked one of two slips of paper in the bowl. Her eyes become very sad as she sees the name on it. She looks at Obi-Wan as she reads the name “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” Before Obi-Wan could process it, Anakin steps in front of him “I volunteer.”

“Anakin?!” Padmé cries out after Anakin volunteers. Anakin looks at her as if he knows what he’s doing.

Obi-Wan looks at Anakin as if he is crazy, he grabs his arm and aggressively whispers, “what the hell?!”

“You can’t stop me,” Anakin replied as Obi-Wan lets go of his arm.

“May I present this year’s tributes from District 12, for the 75th Hunger games, Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker. The couple both glance at one another before Peacekeepers come to take them away. “I get to say goodbye right?” Anakin asked.

“Change of plans, straight to the train,” The peacekeeper says much to the protest of Anakin and Padmé.

“What?! I’m supposed to get three minutes to say goodbye!” Anakin cried out.

“Not this time,” the peacekeeper said as more peacekeepers dragged Anakin away, much to the district’s protest. The last thing Anakin and Padmé saw before the left were the people trying to fight back at the peacekeepers keeping them in line.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! I was really excited to post this chapter. 
> 
> It's also my birthday but this is my gift to you all! :)


	10. A Second Journey to the Capitol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin and Padmé are on their way to the Capitol again as Obi-Wan gives the two of them a rundown of some of the other tributes

The mood on the train is solemn, to say the least. Neither victor is happy to be in this situation. Obi-Wan hadn’t left his quarters since he got on the train. Anakin had been staring at the same spot for about an hour. Padmé tried to get him to talk but to no avail.

The train ride was relatively quiet so Satine decided to check in on Obi-Wan as he was supposed to give Padmé and Anakin the low down on the other victors who were reaped. Satine lightly knocked on the door before opening it. She saw Obi-Wan with his head in his hands. Satine noticed a photo on the bed. Obi-Wan noticed her presence.

“Next time do you mind knocking a little louder?” Obi-Wan frustratedly said. 

“I was coming to ask when you’d be briefing Anakin and Padmé on their competitors,” Satine said.

“I will in a bit,” Obi-Wan said as he tried to compose himself. 

Satine lingered for a moment before asking “Everything alright? We’ve been friends for a while, you can tell me.”

“I don’t know if friends is the word I’d use, maybe acquaintances,” Obi-Wan said.

“Nonsense, would a friend be as concerned as I am right now?” Satine asked. Obi-Wan was silent as he turned over the photo on his bed to show her.  
“This is a photo of me and my father days before I was reaped. His passing still deeply affects me to this day, he died shortly after I had won the games. I still can't believe it's been almost 25 years” Obi-Wan said. He didn’t want to tell Satine that it was the Capitol that killed him since she was from the Capitol.

“He adopted me when I was only four years old. I had recently been orphaned and he had recently lost his wife. He took me in and raised me. I can’t imagine how he felt after I was reaped. Or the pride he felt after I won only for life to rip him away from me.” Obi-Wan said.

“Oh Obi, I’m so sorry,” Satine said as she reassuringly put a hand on his shoulder. Obi-Wan leaned in to her touch, as he often did when it was just himself and Satine. They were not allowed to be touchy-feely in the presence of cameras or really anyone as it is illegal for someone from the Capitol and someone from the districts to be in a relationship with one another. 

Satine ran her hands through Obi-Wan’s hair which Obi-Wan enjoyed. After a minute or two, Obi-Wan pulled away.

“It’s fine, tell Anakin and Padmé that I’ll be ready in about a half-hour,” Obi-Wan said.

* * *

Anakin and Padmé sat in front of a projector, as Obi-Wan began to talk “So you two are at a disadvantage because many of these people already know each other and most of them are good friends already. Their first move will be to take you out. However, I am also good friends with these people and can help you make allies.” Obi-Wan then flicks the screen to show various reapings from other districts.

District 1-”

“I thought District 1 was always happy to compete?” Anakin asked, interrupting Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan glared at him for the interruption before saying “Fox and Riyo are a married couple, they might pull an Owen and Beru” Obi-Wan said as he looked at Anakin. Anakin didn’t take too kindly to that comment and Obi-Wan knew it.

“What the fuck?!”

“Don’t interrupt my briefing session,” Obi-Wan said as Anakin remained quiet.

“Anyways, Fox and Riyo, District 1, victors from different games who ended up getting married” Obi-Wan flipped to the next reaping, “District 2, Bo-Katan and Cody. Bo-Katan won her games by ripping out her district partner’s and from what I hear, the mayor’s son’s throat. Cody well, he’s actually a decent guy, may not ally with the careers.”

“I wouldn’t want to trust her either if she were my district partner” Padmé commented.

“Echo, District 3, won his games by electrocuting half the arena, best friends with-“ Obi-Wan said before flicking to the next reaping

“Fives” Anakin said, finishing Obi-Wan's sentence.

“Correct, Echo is best friends with Fives from District 5, incredibly humble.”

Anakin rolled his eyes “You’re lying.” Fives has a reputation as a charmer and as someone who is the exact opposite of humble.

“Yes, I’m joking he’s a total flirt and the exact opposite of humble. Won his games by flirting with anyone and everyone he could only to kill them while they were asleep for the most part.” Next to him, a woman who was quite old seems to be volunteering for a younger female victor who appears to be hysterically crying in both sadness and relief before the older woman hugs her. The camera pans to the younger woman’s three children for a moment as the younger woman joins them before coming back to the older woman who is now being hugged by Fives.

“Shaak Ti, won the 12th hunger games I think, she was Fives’ mentor.”

“A guy like Fives gotta know she won’t make it far,” Anakin said.

“I hope when she does go, it’s quick. She’s actually a sweet lady” Obi-Wan said before continuing on “Kix and Barriss, Barriss won her games by hiding and Kix had very few kills, especially when compared to people like the careers and Fives who had a lot of kills. Neither tribute are fighters though both can if needed.”

Anakin recognized Barriss as the victor of the games in which Owen died. It was considered a “boring games,” because a tsunami wiped out most of the arena leaving only 4 people who could swim and hide well.

Obi-Wan flicks the slide onto District 7, “Ventress won her games by pretending she was weak but then killing 7 people during the games. Dooku, silent but lethal.”

“He looks like Ventress’ grandfather” Padmé comments.

“Don’t let the pleasantries fool you, they hate each other and will probably go after one another first.” Obi-Wan then switched the screen to District 8. “District 8, Ahsoka Tano, youngest victor ever. She won her games at 13”. Anakin remembered that a really young girl had won the 72nd hunger games but he never paid attention too much, at least now he could put a person to the title.

“Next to her is Rex, he’s good friends with Cody and myself,” Obi-Wan says as he switches to District 9, the picture is of two people, one is volunteering for the other.

“Savage Oppress, volunteered for his brother, Feral. They won back to back games but Feral is much more sickly now.”

“No kidding” Anakin whispered to Padmé in reference to Feral, who was very skinny and his face is hollowed out.

“Jesse, District 10, he’s good friends with Kix, they’ll definitely be working together. "District 11,” Obi-Wan said. He sighed before saying his name, “Quinlan Vos, a decent guy but very extra.” Obi-Wan paused before saying, “you two will go into the training centre tomorrow, scope out your allies, make people want to work with you. I’ll pull some strings on my end since I know just about all of these people well.”

“Sounds good to me,” Padmé said.

“You’re not gonna be the problem,” Obi-Wan said.

Anakin didn’t say anything but didn’t seem too keen on allies.

“I’d rather not” Anakin finally said.

“I’m just trying to up your chances at staying alive longer than 5 milliseconds. You two are outsiders while everyone else has known each other for at least 2 years. On top of this, each of these people are lethal," Obi-Wan said.

Anakin simply rolled his eyes as Obi-Wan finished his briefing.

Anakin and Padmé then went to Anakin’s quarters where they saw holo discs, each labeled with a particular games and the winner of each.

“Hmmm,” Anakin said as he flicked through.

“68th Hunger games Winner: Fives. 70th Hunger Games; Winner: Barriss. 72nd Hunger Games; Winner: Ahsoka. 65th Hunger Games; Winner: Rex. 67th Hunger Games; Winner: Echo. 52nd Hunger Games; Winner: Quinlan. 62nd Hunger Games; Winner: Fox. 63rd Hunger games; Winner: Cody.”

Padmé noticed that there was a smiley face on that card.

“Obi-Wan and Cody must be fairly close,” Padmé said as she showed it to Anakin. Anakin laughed and said, “We gotta tease Obi-Wan about this” before he continued to flick through.

“66th Hunger games; winner: Kix. 61st Hunger games; winner: Bo-Katan. 71st Hunger Games; winner: Ventress. 53rd Hunger games; winner: Savage.”

“Who do you think will be our biggest threat, maybe that’s whose games we should watch,” Padmé suggested.

“Hmmm, I’m suspicious of Fives already, the careers we know are strong, but they all have the same strategy. The only one I’m not willing to watch is the 70th one,” Anakin said.

“True. Besides, Barriss probably won't be much of a threat,” Padmé said, as she flicked through the pile of holo cards that Anakin left. She organized them all from most recent to least recent. She didn’t need to probe Anakin for why he wouldn’t want to watch the 70th games. She took out the one for the 68th hunger games and put it on before putting herself into Anakin’s arms.

* * *

The holo opens to just before the games began with all the tributes getting into their starting stances, with the gong sounding soon after. Fives ran towards the backpack and knife, killing a district 10 boy that got into his way before running into the forest. The deeper he went into the forest, the more snow started falling onto the ground. He soon scoped out what Anakin assumed to be his first victim of flirtation. The girl from district 10, she had long brown hair that was tied into a high ponytail and she was weaponless. He left his hiding spot in the bushes to approach her.

“What’s a beautiful woman like you doing all alone out here?” Fives said to her.

She blushed before going back into games mode and said “I’m just trying to survive”.

“Maybe we could survive together, I have a weapon and you seem to have gathered quite a few cloudberries,” Fives said as he looked around and saw even more, “they seem to be quite plentiful”

“You’re asking to be my ally?” the girl asked.

“Of course, you seem to be smart and easy to look at,” Fives said.

“Then you have a deal” she replied as the two of them picked more cloudberries.

Eventually, it started to get dark and they sat near a tree and made a small fire while the segment showing the dead tributes for the day played in the sky. Ten tributes died on the first day, a lot of them being male. The girl from 10 moved closer to Fives and put her arms around him. He seemed shocked by the sudden gesture.

“You said I was beautiful but has anyone ever told you how easy you are on the eyes.

“Heh, thanks,” Fives said before saying “but you’re even easier on the eyes”. As he finished his sentence, his fingers grazed her chin as he gently eased it upwards for her to look at him. She smiled when he said that and kissed him on the cheek.  
“One of us should rest,” she said.

“I can take the first watch, I’m sure being so beautiful all day has got to be tiring”.

The girl giggled before saying “Okay, let me know when you want to sleep.”

“Will do” Fives said with a wink as the girl from 10 fell asleep next to him.

He fiddled with his knife for about an hour after this, contemplating his next move. He then noticed the girl’s neck out in the open. He looked at his knife, and back at her neck. Fives decided to move around the ground, it seemed like he was testing whether she’ll wake up at the sounds. She didn’t. He held a tight grip on his knife as he knelt near her as she slept, quickly slashing her throat and awaiting the cannon to go off. Once it did and her face appeared in the sky, he took her supplies and left.

By day 4, sponsors had been giving him food such as bread, meat, and soups and he had stolen supplies from 2 more girls, one of whom had a small axe. He had also received a trident from a rich sponsor. He soon ran into the girl from 1.

“It seems I’ve finally found the most beautiful girl in this arena,” Fives said.

“Oh really,” the girl from 1 said.

“Got any other pretty friends?” he asked again as the girl from 4 showed up.

“That’s the kid from 5 that got an 8,” the girl from 4 said.

“Should we kill him?” the girl from 1 asked.

“I can be helpful to you, I have tons of food,” Fives said as he opened his backpack.

“We are in need of food” the girl from 4 whispered.

“What do you got?” the girl from 1 asked.

Fives took a few things out, “I have nuts, bread, berries, jerky, and all sorts of things”.

“Come with us,” the girl from 1 said as she brought him back to the rest of the careers.

“We got a new ally, and he has food,” the girl from 4 said to the tributes from 2.

As it got darker, the group prepared to go to sleep.

“Who wants to take first watch?” the girl from 2 said.

“I’ll do it,” Fives said, volunteering himself.

“I’ll stay up with you,” the girl from 1 said.  
  


The two stayed up while everyone else went to sleep.

“Did you really mean that earlier?” she asked.

“Of course I did,” Fives said.

She snuggled into his shoulder and Fives put his arm around her, making her feel comfortable as she slowly fell asleep.

After he started hearing her snore, he carefully moved her to the ground and slashed her throat. He moved quickly, slashing the girl from 4’s throat while plunging his trident through the girl and boy from 2. He had a crazed look in his eyes as he stared at the carnage he just created while listening to the 4 cannon sounds. He grabbed supplies while looking onto their bodies.

Anakin then heard some of Hondo’s commentary that was left in, “he knew what he was doing when he volunteered, is that right folks?”

Later on, he had allied with the girl from 9, she was the only one he didn’t kill the first night he was with her, not for lack of trying. He went to but then she woke up, causing Fives to bluff, saying that he thought he heard someone. However, with only three tributes, she was trying to break off the alliance. As she went to speak, a giant blizzard tore through the arena. The two of them ran to the cornucopia where they were met by the boy from 8, whom the girl from 9 successfully killed using Fives’ axe. Then the two of them fought each other, Fives using his trident and the girl using an axe. Fives quickly gained the upper hand due to his strength and pinned her to the side of the cornucopia, snatching the axe out of her hand and throwing it onto the ground, he then took the knife from her side and chucked that onto the ground too before taking out his own knife, the one that had been draped with the blood of so many people that there was a slight red tinge to the blade. He put the knife up to her throat.

“This should’ve been done last night” Fives admitted.

“I knew there was something up with your flattery,” she said as she squirmed around, looking for an out but Fives was not providing one.

“Flattery? I was telling the truth, you are quite beautiful, but don’t worry, I won’t mar such a pretty face” he said in a sinister tone as he moved the knife closer to her throat. Goosebumps started forming everywhere on her body. He moved her braided blonde hair out of the way and grazed the knife onto her neck.

He then said, “I hate to mar such a creation”. He then quickly slashed her throat and kissed her just before the cannon went off. After it went off, he said “however, there can only be one winner,” before letting her corpse fall to the ground.

* * *

“Okay, so he’s psychotic,” Anakin said.

“But now we know what not to do if we run into him,” Padmé said, trying to be optimistic.

“I guess, let’s just hope we don’t,” Anakin said.

“Should we watch another?” Padmé said.

“That one was pretty brutal so maybe a less brutal one. Maybe Ahsoka's,” Anakin said.

"Sure," Padmé said as she put it on 

* * *

This holo also started at the beginning of the games where everyone was on their pedestals. When looking at the other tributes around Ahsoka, most of them looked like they could easily take Ahsoka down. This arena was yet another forest arena with lots of coverage. This arena was a rainforest as opposed to last year which had a temperate forest. When the gong sounded everyone ran for the cornucopia. Ahsoka was fast enough to grab a backpack and get out unscathed. She ran deep into the forest and up into a tree where she opened the backpack. Ahsoka's eyes widened when she found a set of throwing knives. 

Throughout the games, Ahsoka mostly kept to herself. She did a lot of berry picking and killed small animals with the knives. However, one night her fire had drawn in a tribute from 3 who she killed by throwing one of her knives into his neck. Unlike Fives, Ahsoka felt really bad about the killing and closed his eyes for him. Before she left she looked down at the boy's body and said, "I'm sorry". 

A few days later, Ahsoka climbed into another tree after getting some water but once she got comfortable she heard some buzzing. She slowly turned around and a tracker jacker started stinging her. She quickly climbed down from the tree as a tracker jacker stung her for a second time and ran away from them. Once she finally got the tracker jackers off her tail, her sting wounds were beginning to swell and she likely started having hallucinations based on the way she was acting for the next few hours.

Ahsoka woke up to Mas Amedda's voice, 

_“Commencing at sunrise, there will be a feast at the cornucopia. Each of you needs something, desperately and we hope to be generous hosts. This will be the only announcement”._

Ahsoka immediately knew what she needed, something to help heal her sting wounds. So the next morning, she hid in the trees until she was confident that no one was there. She ran and grabbed her bag before an arrow hit her hand. The girl from 4. Ahsoka quickly recuperated and threw a knife at the girl's face. This didn't kill the girl though who shot another arrow at her. Ahsoka then threw another knife, this one lodging itself into her chest as a cannon went off. Ahsoka still felt badly for causing this girl's death but she quickly ran into the woods before anyone else showed up. 

Once Ahsoka got deep enough into the woods she opened her bag which revealed medicine for her stings, just as she expected. However, she appreciated it just the same as she applied it to her wounds. 

Two days later, Ahsoka's wounds were fully healed and there were now only two tributes left, her and the boy from 6. Ahsoka was sitting in a tree when she smelled smoke. She looked around and saw a fire fast approaching. She quickly climbed down the tree and started running towards teh cornucopia. As she ran she noticed the boy from 6 also running. He was bigger than her and would easily defeat her in a physical fight. Ahsoka turned to run away from the boy when she heard screaming. She looked back to see the boy being burned to death. She couldn't stare though as the fire was fast approaching. Just as she arrived at the cornucopia, a cannon went off, signifying the boy's death and her victory as she heard Mas Amedda proclaim her victory. 

_"I present the victor of the 72nd annual Hunger Games, Ahsoka Tano of District 8."_

* * *

"I don't think I can watch anymore tonight," Anakin said. 

“I don't blame you. I’m going to get a shower and get my pajamas on,” Padmé said.

“Me too,” Anakin said as Padmé left his quarters.

Padmé secretly watched another games. She decided to watch the 71st games first but she had to turn it off once Ventress went on her killing spree. It was gruesome how she decapitated every career tribute and wore their blood on her jumpsuit like a trophy.

Padmé then put on the 70th hunger games where the tsunami flows through on day 3. While these specials are dedicated to the victor of each games, there is a small snippet dedicated to Owen and Beru.

* * *

They were running away from the wave but soon realized it was no use. They tried climbing a tree, but Owen kept falling out. Beru started to climb down.

“Beru! What are you doing? Don’t come back for me”.

“I’m not going without you,” she said.

Owen noticed the cave and said, “let’s go out in a more peaceful way then” as he led her into the cave. Both of them laid down in the cave and Owen put his arms around Beru. She rested her head onto his shoulder and closed her eyes as the wave moved quickly towards them. Owen soon closed his eyes too and held his hands in Beru’s hair as some of the wave splashed into the cave, soon drowning the two, together.

* * *

Anakin walked past, just as this happened. Padmé tried to quickly turn off the holo but Anakin knew what she was doing.

“You watched it, didn’t you?” Anakin said as he walked in.

Padmé nodded.

“Do you see why I don’t want to relive that moment?” Anakin asked.

“Yea, I know you weren’t really close with him but I still can’t imagine losing someone on live, national tv” Padmé said.

“I don’t want to talk about that, I just want to cuddle,” Anakin said as he jumped onto Padmé’s bed.

“Ok,” Padmé said as rested her head onto Anakin’s chest. Not moving until Obi-Wan had to wake them up and tell them that they were almost to the Capitol.


	11. A Quarter Quell Type of Tribute Parade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tribute parade for the 75th hunger games leaves many victors unhappy

The crowds at the train station were enormous and more excited than last year. Especially as multiple trains pulled in. District 8 got there the same time so Anakin and Padmé got their first looks at Ahsoka and Rex. Obi-Wan immediately went up to Rex.

“Rex!” Obi-Wan said, arms outstretched.

“Obi-Wan!” Rex said with equal enthusiasm. Anakin, Padmé, and Ahsoka approached too.

“Ahsoka Tano,” Ahsoka said to Anakin and Padmé.

“Anakin Skywalker.”

“Padmé Amidala.”

The three barely get a chance to finish introducing themselves as peacekeepers break up the interaction and they go to their designated floors in the training complex. District 12 always gets the penthouse, but it looks different this year.

* * *

_Anakin and Padmé follow Obi-Wan and Satine into the training complex._

_“Every district gets a different floor. Since you are District 12, you get the penthouse. How Sweet!” Satine says as they enter the floor._

_It’s huge, much bigger than Anakin’s Seam house and even Padmé’s Merchant Section house. There’s a giant grey plush couch around a hologram projector. The dining room is lofted with green chairs with black designs, almost like a snake. There are Avoxes around the entire main area, a horrifying concept considering they’re servants with their tongues cut out. Anakin and Padmé’s rooms look similar with gold comforters standing out the most. On the nightstand lay a remote where the window can be changed from no background. Forest, bustling city, beachside, etc. It’s the most luxurious place either had ever been in._

* * *

This year, however, the grey couch is now midnight blue with a black fur rug. The dining room has pink chairs with lighter pink bubbles on the back of them for decoration. The table itself is made of a black wood with a glass center. Anakin’s room has green comforter this year. The holo window is still there as Anakin changes his background to the forest. It reminds him of the forests surrounding District 12. Padmé came into Anakin’s room soon after.

“Your room looks a lot like mine,” Padmé jokes. They don’t have much time for anything when Obi-Wan and Satine barge in uninvited with Threepio and Artoo.

“Guess who?” Threepio says with enthusiasm. Anakin almost forgot about the chariot rides.

“We heard about the engagement and are so excited!” Satine said.

“What?” Anakin said, pretending to play dumb.

“It’s the hottest news in the Capitol! I got the ring, by the way, it’s so stunning!” Satine said as she opened the small, red velvet box she was carrying.

“Wow,” Padmé said as she put it on.

“Despite the news leak, I have to admit it is a stunning ring,” Anakin said.

“The only condition is that Hondo wants to witness a re-enactment of the engagement at his studio before the tribute parade," Satine said.

“This better be quick, we don’t have all day” Artoo groaned.

“Nice to see you too,” Anakin jokingly said as Satine escorted them out.

“Come on then,” Satine said as she took them to Hondo’s studio.

“Anakin! Padmé! I’m so excited about the news!” Hondo said as he greeted them.

“Thanks,” Padmé said as she took off the ring and put it into the box so that they could re-enact the scene.

Hondo turns on the camera once Anakin and Padmé get into their places and once Satine is out of view.

“Our lethal lovers!” Hondo starts before he fake whispers “my new favourite expression,” and laughs before continuing, “have brought a new twist to their love story, let’s take a look.”

Anakin is then shown on one knee with the ring, proposing to Padmé.

“So exciting!" Hondo said. He pauses before saying "We’ll be seeing more of last year's victors tonight at the tribute parade!” 

Hondo then turned off the camera before saying, “thank you so much for coming by! Congratulations on the engagement!"

“Thank you so much!” Padmé said politely before Satine escorted them out so that Threepio and Artoo could have enough time to deck them out. They wanted to capitalize on last year’s success with the fake fire.

* * *

_As the District 12 chariot rolled out, everything seemed normal. Padmé waved at the crowd while Anakin smirked at them as if pretending to be happy. They were wearing the coal-black costumes which to the crowds, appeared to have the same premise as the other outfits, industries from the districts such as the outfits from District 4, fishing, and from District 7, lumber. The tributes from those districts were dressed as fishermen and trees respectively. Threepio was behind the scenes holding a button that he would press when they got to the middle of the boulevard. When they got to the middle of the boulevard, Padmé and Anakin took each other’s hands and lifted them just as Threepio pushed the button. The fake flames appeared behind them and the crowd cheered extra loud, amazed at what they just saw._

* * *

The two were wearing coal-black outfits but this time they were different. Instead of latex jumpsuits, Padmé got a glimmery black dress with an elaborate headpiece while Anakin got an equally glimmery black suit. Instead of a white undershirt, it was a black one with a black tie, emphasizing District 12’s export, coal. Anakin also got black dust put in his hair which made his head itchy. Artoo kept having to tell Anakin not to touch his hair. Threepio left while Artoo called Anakin aside for a moment as other tributes started arriving to the complex. Obi-Wan also left and started speaking to the tributes from 5 although Padmé couldn't make out what he was saying.

After Obi-Wan left the district 5 chariot and moved to the district 8 chariot, Fives walked up to Padmé with two sugar cubes.

“Padmé Amidala!” Fives said.

“Hello Fives,” Padmé said. Fives was one of, if not the most famous victor, likely for his infamous tactics in the games. Fives’ outfit was definitely made to emphasize what Fives is well-known for, his looks. District 5 is the power district; his outfit is literally just a few power cables plugged into an extension cord jockstrap that is then connected to an outlet piece on his backside so that the nudity rules aren’t broken. Along the cables are a series of lights that will turn on once the electrical current is turned on by his stylist. The one rule for stylists is to not send tributes out naked.

“I know these are for the horses but who says horses are the only ones that can be sweet?” Fives says as he offers Padmé a sugar cube.

“No thanks,” Padmé says, rejecting the sugar cube.

“That’s fine, you don’t need a sugar cube to be sweet” Fives says with a wink as he pops one of the sugar cubes in his mouth. Anakin is giving Fives a suspicious look, but Fives doesn’t seem to mind.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Padmé said, playing along.

“I can’t just talk to a beautiful woman?” Fives replied.

“I’m pretty confident that the entire nation including you know that I'm engaged.”

“Too bad this had to happen, you could’ve been drowning in money in the Capitol, you know how people love the girl on fire” Fives said. He said this almost as if he had experience with something like this.

“Well, I already have enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life,” Padmé replies.

“Same here but there’s no disadvantage in having extra,” Fives said.

“So, what did you do with yours?” Padmé asked.

“Oh, you must be mistaken, I haven’t dealt with such common things as money for years. I prefer secrets as payment for my company and because the Capitol loves me, they almost always tell me their deepest darkest secrets. How about that?”

“Interesting,” Padmé awkwardly says, trying to make conversation. Padmé knows a guy like that could become an asset in the games themselves, however, she has to be careful not to let flattery get to her. 

“So, Miss Padmé, have any secrets worth my time?”

“I don’t know, you tell me?” Padmé replies.

“Hmm, you seem like an open book,” Fives replies, almost as if he can see right into her mind as to what one of her deepest secrets is.

* * *

_“Clovis, no!” Padmé said as her former lover tried to get closer._

_“I thought you didn’t have feelings for him, that the games were an act for the television program they are” Clovis replied._

_“It was an act at first but it’s not anymore” Padmé replied._

_“So, you admit it was an act in the beginning?”_

_“Yea”_

_“Maybe I can make you realize that it’s still an act for you deep down” Clovis said as he made the move to kiss Padmé before she pushed him away. That was all Palpatine needed to see before he made his way to District 12 and made it clear what she was to do, for her sake and her family’s sake. She was just as guilty as Anakin in the arena._

* * *

“I’m afraid you’re right. Everyone seems to know my secrets before I do,” Padmé said as Anakin walked over. Fives popped the other sugar cube in his mouth right after saying “I think your fiance is feeling a little fiery right now, after all, he is the boy on fire. Hope we meet again, Padmé”. Fives leaves as Anakin approaches.

“Were you glaring at him?” Padmé asked quietly.

“Yea because he was clearly flirting with you,” Anakin said.

“You know damn well he flirts with everyone. I’m trying to make friends so that we can stay alive just a little longer,” Padmé said. Obi-Wan approached as she said that and said “I think you should follow your girlfriend’s lead. It’s fine to be uncomfortable but playing along gets you more friends and with this group, having friends will keep you alive”.

“I think you two should take this elsewhere,” Artoo whispers as he gestures towards Bo-Katan who is intently staring and likely eavesdropping. 

“When you go out there, don’t smile, don’t wave. These aren’t kiddie games anymore. You are victors and this event is beneath you and every other victor in this room” Obi-Wan advises before they prepare to get onto their chariot.

The first chariot onto the Boulevard is District 1 with Fox and Riyo. District 1 is known for luxury items so naturally, they are wearing elaborate costumes. They are wearing silver-studded jumpsuits. Riyo got a fancy silver headdress while Fox got a cape. The couple were holding hands but no smiles or waves.

District 2 was next. Both were wearing Gladiator-esque outfits, a District 2 tradition. Both Bo-Katan and Cody had very stoic expressions on their faces.

District 3 had light-up outfits in the shapes of electrical circuits but with computer shaped clips in various places. The headdresses were also in the shape of computers. Echo’s stylist had a similar idea as Fives’ stylist in making their tribute mostly shirtless while still staying within the boundaries.

District 4 tributes had costumes with netted sleeves, showcasing their industry, fishing.

For District 5, Fives’ outfit was fairly revealing but Shaak Ti’s, not so much. She was illuminated but she had a floor-length dress that was very shiny with the lights were on the sleeves.

District 6 had outfits with capes that had wheels attached, emphasizing transportation, the District’s industry.

District 7 stylists had a habit of dressing the tributes as trees and this year was no exception. Ventress had an angry expression on her face while Dooku had a grimace. Neither tribute looked happy to be there.

District 8 saw Ahsoka and Rex dressed in opposite coloured outfits. Ahsoka wore a short white dress while Rex wore a black collared shirt and black trousers.

District 9’s export is grain and thus Savage was wearing a gold ensemble but it was ripped to demonstrate his ferocity and the lines of grain.

Jesse and his district partner followed District 3 and 5’s trend of barely any clothing as they made Jesse wear a skimpy white and gold cowboy outfit. The shirt had no sleeves and the pants were a speedo that was paired with cowboy boots and a cowboy hat, the girl had a cowgirl outfit that included a golden bikini top and white jean shorts.

Quinlan was wearing farmer's overalls which he didn't seem to mind too much until the second he and his district partner made it to the Boulevard where any hint of a smile was wiped off his face to follow suit with his fellow victors.

Once it was finally Anakin and Padmé’s turn to come out, they don their frowns as they look straight ahead, flames appearing behind them just as they did last year. The crowd cheers. As they reach the area in front of President Palpatine, he prepares to make a short speech.

“Welcome, tributes. Welcome to the 3rd Quarter Quell and may the odds be ever in your favour.” Palpatine specifically looked at Padmé and Anakin when he said that. He knew exactly what he was doing. He needed to eliminate Padmé and if that meant some of the other victors too, so be it. Palpatine saw potential in Anakin to mold him into what he wanted him to be while Padmé was as stubborn as they come and would not cave under any pressure. She’d rather die than be someone she’s not. Regardless, Palpatine’s ultimate goal was to extinguish the united front that the victors now symbolized. A united front that would soon cause the spark in the districts to become out of control.

As Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padmé get into the elevator to go back to their floor they are joined by Ventress who purposely avoided getting into the same elevator as Dooku. She immediately began taking off her tree costume.

“My stupid stylist made us trees. Like c’mon, they’ve been doing this for 40 fucking years, try something different for a change” Ventress said as she threw her headdress and wig onto the floor.

“Unzip?” She said as she positioned herself next to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan obliged as Ventress took off her dress.

“Is Dooku doing the same thing?” Anakin joked.

“Hopefully if he is, Bo-Katan rips his throat out. I saw her and Cody get into the elevator after Dooku.”

She continued on her rant as she turned to face the three District 12 victors, looking at Anakin and Obi-Wan in particular while being completely naked. Anakin is trying to look away while Obi-Wan doesn’t seem to mind Ventress’ unsolicited nudity as she is going on and on about how her stylist is stupid and the Capitol is stupid and about how this whole thing is stupid. Once she finished her eyes scanned Obi-Wan and Anakin. She winked at Obi-Wan when she noticed him looking. As the elevator stops on her floor, she leaves her costume in front of the District 12 victors and leaves while saying “let’s do this again sometime!” Padmé and Anakin look at one another, wondering what they just witnessed. 

"Asajj Ventress, district 7. However, you will be killed before you can say 75th hunger games if you call her Asajj," Obi-Wan said

* * *

When they arrived back onto their floor, they were treated to a feast of Capitol delicacies, there was lobster, caviar, filet mignon steak, roasted potatoes, lamb stew, fresh bread, roasted vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli, and carrots, as well as a whole chicken. Then Anakin saw the desserts, macarons, cake, eclairs, cookies, crème brûlée, cupcakes and so much more.

Anakin put some steak, the roasted potatoes and vegetables, as well as some bread and a little caviar.

“How are we even supposed to eat all of this?” Anakin said as he ate what was on his plate but was also too full for dessert.

Threepio presented a champagne glass with a pink fluid

“What?” Anakin said.

“It makes you sick so that you can keep eating,” Threepio said.

“Nah, I changed my mind,” Anakin said as he excused himself from the table, leaving Obi-Wan, Satine, Artoo, Threepio, and Padmé at the table. Padmé then also excused herself. Obi-Wan got the remaining members of the group to huddle in close to him and then whispered, “Can I trust all of you?”

“With your life” Satine replied.

“Same here,” Artoo said.

“You can trust me with anything,” Threepio said.

“Great, Bail Organa has given me a very important task and I need your help, this could help keep our tributes alive even just for a little longer, Satine, I need you to get some gold bracelets. They don’t need to be overly fancy, it needs to be a subtle representation of us, Artoo, and Threepio, you need to keep this a secret and do what you can in the style department.

“Palpatine gave me strict orders to dress Anakin in a tux that he picked out,” Artoo said.

“But you can make alterations, right?”

“Yea, for his size,” Artoo said.

“I was also given a wedding dress for the same reason,” Threepio said.

“Make it subtle but make it stand out, I’m talking fire but make it look like simple wedding clothes we need sponsors too,” Obi-Wan said.

“You want it to represent everything that Anakin and Padmé represent?”

“Yes”

“You got it!” Artoo said.

“You can count on me too,” Threepio said.

“Thank you so much,” Obi-Wan said as he finished his dinner.

“Satine? You in?”

“Yes, How many do you need,” Satine said as she intently looked at Obi-Wan, giving him her full attention. 

Obi-Wan counts out the number of people in on this plan already who need bracelets. This includes Obi-Wan, Satine, Anakin, Padmé, as well as the tributes who are already in on the plan, those who Obi-Wan talked to after leaving Anakin and Padmé. 

"Get 12 for now, I'll let you know if you need to change that number, I'm hoping to get more people on our side once they see Anakin and Padmé in training tomorrow," Obi-Wan said.

Later in the night, Anakin and Padmé were in Anakin’s bed when Padmé suddenly woke up screaming. This woke Anakin who became quite concerned.

“It was just a dream,” Padmé said.

“Don’t worry, you’re not in there anymore, you’re safe with me” Anakin said.

Padmé soon started to cry. Anakin carefully wiped the tears away from Padmé’s eyes as she sat up in the bed, unable to move.

“I don’t wanna go back there” Padmé finally said.

“I know,” Anakin said with a sad expression on his face, knowing that there was nothing he could do for her about that.

“Can you stay awake with me for a bit? I know if I go back to sleep now, I’m going to go right back into that nightmare” Padmé said.

“Sure,” Anakin said as they laid back down and he held her in his arms, comforting her. Although lack of sleep caught up to him and he soon fell asleep again.


	12. Making Allies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin and Padmé head to the training center to try to find potential allies and decide to get a little rebellious for the individual assessments

The next morning, Anakin and Padmé headed down to the training centre. They had athletic clothing with their district number visible on both sleeves. As they made their way, they kept repeating Obi-Wan’s advice, “make people want to ally with you.”

Anakin didn’t like the idea of having allies but Padmé was gung-ho for it. When they entered the training area, the place was almost empty besides the gamemakers. Anakin notices there’s a different head game maker this year, and there were 2 with a head gamemaker marker instead of one. Last year it was Mas Amedda but these people looked nothing like him.

“I’m overwhelmed by our choices,” Anakin said sarcastically as Dooku looks like he’s vomiting into a trash can. Padmé quickly looked away as she practiced her bow and arrow skills and Anakin went to practice with his spear.

As Padmé was practicing at the targets she looked around at the now more populated training centre, she saw Shaak Ti teaching Fives how to camouflage himself, Ahsoka seems to be using throwing knives while Rex is showing a preference for swords. Ventress sees Padmé looking around and violently swings an axe around as if trying to intimidate her. Padmé gets back to what she’s doing until Fives and Shaak Ti come over. The older woman is smiling as Fives says, “Shaak saw you practicing with your bow and wanted you to teach her. I wouldn’t mind learning a thing or two either.”

"How about I try out this practice chamber and show how to aim at moving targets," Padmé suggested. 

Fives looked to Shaak who gave a thumbs up and a smile. Padmé smiled back at the woman before Fives spoke.

"If it's good with her, it's good with me."

Padmé shows them to the practice chamber near the targets. 

"Do you wanna come in with me?" Padmé said, directed to Shaak. 

Shaak shook her head. 

"Alright," Padmé said as she used the datapad nearby to set up the simulation before taking a bow and going in to show them how to shoot moving targets.

Anakin is practicing with his spear, throwing them at the targets when Ahsoka comes over and taps him on the shoulder.

“Uh hi,” Anakin said as he looked down at the shorter girl, she had to be 5’7” at most while Anakin stood closer to 6’0”.

“That’s a cool looking spear, can you teach me how to use it?” Ahsoka asked.

Anakin hands her a spear while Rex comes over to watch Ahsoka and Anakin shoot at targets. After a few rounds with the spear, Rex’s attention is diverted to the crowd gathering around Padmé, Shaak Ti, and Fives. Anakin, Ahsoka, and Rex walked over to see. Among the crowd included, Ventress, Kix, Jesse, Echo, Barriss, Cody, and Quinlan. Rex gave Ahsoka a boost so she could see without having to ask Quinlan and Cody to move. Padmé seemed to have impressed people with her skills. She turned around and saw the crowd and was shocked. Shaak Ti was clapping after the session had ended, this made Padmé smile with pride.

Once they went back up to the penthouse after the training session, they saw Obi-Wan talking to another victor who hadn’t been reaped.

“The only reason I didn’t volunteer for him is because I’d much rather see my mentor electrocute a bunch of people than me reactivating a bunch of bombs.” The guy said with a chuckle. He looks younger than Obi-Wan but older than Anakin and Padmé.

“Anakin, Padmé, this is Hardcase, victor from District 3, Echo was his mentor.”

“Oh, enough about me! Nice to meet you two.” Hardcase said as he shook both their hands. 

“Nice to meet you too,” Padmé said.

“Well, I better get going but it was nice seeing you again Obi-Wan!” Hardcase said as he left.

After going upstairs, the three victors go to join Satine, Artoo, and Threepio for dinner when Obi-Wan's comm link rings. The call is labelled urgent so he immediately went to talk to the person who wanted to talk to him.

“Where’s Obi-Wan?” Satine asked.

“Apparently some other victor needed to talk to him or something,” Anakin said.

Obi-Wan came back into the room after a little while, just as the avoxes are serving the meal.

“Obi-Wan! We’re having your favourite,” Satine said as Obi-Wan came to take his place at the dining table.

“Good news, almost half the tributes want you as an ally, so you pretty much got your pick of the litter,” Obi-Wan said to Padmé and Anakin.

“I want Fives and Shaak,” Padmé said. Anakin rolled his eyes and groaned in his chair.

“Anakin! Getting allies is how you will potentially survive this!” Obi-Wan admonished.

“Well one is an old crippled woman and the other seems more concerned with trying to get in my fiancée's pants!” Anakin said angrily.

“Fives flirts with everyone even if it doesn’t mean anything, if you’re that jealous I can get him to flirt with you too," Obi-Wan said, somewhat jokingly.

“No thanks. It’s not that I don’t want allies because I want Ahsoka and Rex. It’s just I don’t want those particular allies. I don’t see how an old woman is an asset and the other will probably kill me in my sleep! I don’t care how good of a combatant he is,” Anakin said as he got up from the table.

“I’ll tell them you’re still deciding,” Obi-Wan said as Padmé excused herself too. Obi-Wan already knew who he was putting in the alliance, he had already discussed this with Hardcase from District 3 and Tup from District 10, all of whom have a lot of ties to other victors.

Once everyone had calmed down from dinner, Satine called everyone into the living room. She was holding several similar bracelets.

“I think we should have something to represent us,” Satine said.

“Why?” Anakin asked.

“We’re like a team, right?” Satine asked. Padmé nodded.

“I guess,” Obi-Wan replied.

“I think we should each have a token to signify us as a team,” Satine said as she rummaged through a box she had placed on the coffee table. “I got us these, gold bracelets.” Satine looked ecstatic to be giving them the bracelets but she also had tears in her eyes because she would have to say goodbye to Anakin and Padmé sooner than she would like to.

“These are beautiful,” Padmé said as she ran her finger around the bracelet before putting it on.

“You’ve truly outdone yourself yet again,” Obi-Wan said.

“I’m glad you think so Obi-Wan, what about you Anakin?” Satine asked.

“It looks nice,” This is the most luxurious item Anakin had ever held in his hand. It was definitely real gold. Anakin had never seen real gold before coming to the capitol, reminded of the modern art statue that he was desperate to touch.

* * *

_Anakin went to bed but struggled to fall asleep. He tossed and turned for what seemed like hours, dozing off only for a minute before waking up again._

_He couldn’t sleep knowing that he could potentially be dead 24 hours from now. He sat in the window nook, eyeing the statue on the living room coffee table. He had no idea what it was supposed to be but Satine insisted they do not touch it. He turned around to hear Padmé walking towards him._

_“You should be asleep Padmé,” Anakin said._

_“You should be too Anakin. What’s got you up this late?”_

_“Couldn’t sleep.”_

_“Me neither. I want to soak up as much life as possible knowing that within the next 24 hours that could be gone. I don’t want to take this for granted,” Padmé said._

_“Don’t think like that, you’re gonna bring home that win!” Anakin said._

_“When my sister came to say goodbye, she said District 12 might finally have a victor, but unless the hunger games is a debate, she wasn’t talking about me. She was talking about you. She loves buying grouse off you by the way.”_

_“Glad to hear it. But seriously, I promise you, we will take the win back to 12.”_

_“Only one of us can win,” Padmé said._

_Anakin looked down for a moment before changing the subject “what is that statue anyways and why does Satine insist we never touch it?” Anakin asked._

_“It’s some Capitol modern art thing, at least that’s what she told me. It’s made out of real gold, which is why she doesn’t want anyone touching it.”_

_“I think if we’re under the mindset that we’re gonna die, why not touch it just to see what real gold feels like?” Anakin asked._

_“As long as no one ever finds out, sure,” Padmé said with a smile._

* * *

Anakin snapped back to reality when Obi-Wan was trying to get his attention, “Anakin are you even listening to me?”

“What?” Anakin replied.

“I was talking about the plan for tomorrow, individual assessments, and then Threepio and Artoo want to discuss interview outfits. Then I’ll be giving tips for the interview with Hondo.”

"Got it," Anakin said. 

"I'd hope so, considering this part you've done before, remember, make them remember you, you'll have lots of sponsors anyways because your win was so recent, but high scores will make people want to ally with you more so than they do already," Obi-Wan said.

The individual assessments worked similarly as last year, in order by district and the males go before the females. However, everyone went down at once this year. Anakin scans the room looking at some of the other tributes. Fox and Riyo were snuggled close to one another, Ahsoka and Rex were chatting but Anakin couldn't hear what they were saying, the same thing was going on with Fives and Shaak but Fives caught Anakin scanning the room, causing him to quickly look away.

Fox went in first but not before leaning down to kiss his wife, a gesture she seemed to happily accept.

_“Riyo Chuchi.”_

She went in with pride and the poise of a noble woman, District 1 always seems to think they’re better than everyone else, Anakin thought. These tributes were spending much more time in their assessments than the tributes from last year but Anakin had to tell himself that these are no ordinary tributes.

It felt like forever until they finally got into the double digits.

_“Quinlan Vos.”_

Finally, “ _Anakin, Skywalker.”_ Anakin got up and went into the training room. He looked up and remembered what Echo told him and Padmé about the force field while in the elevator on the way down. Echo was right, there was a force field around everything of importance, including the gamemakers.

* * *

_Anakin then reported for his individual assessment. This was where he should show his actual skill according to Obi-Wan. The gamemakers seemed occupied with the roast pig with the apple in its mouth. While in the Capitol, Anakin learned that the capitol citizens gorge on food while District 12 has high starvation rates. It was disgusting._

_“Anakin Skywalker, District 12.” This got Head Gamemaker Mas Amedda’s attention. Anakin threw a spear at one of the human-shaped targets. He missed. The gamemakers laughed as Anakin realized that he missed. They immediately went back to their food as Anakin shot another spear. Straight into the heart._

_"They didn’t even see it. How could they?" Anakin thought. Anakin got mad and decided to shoot a spear into the apple. The spear landed perfectly into the apple and wedged itself into the wall, startling the gamemakers._

_“Thank you, for your consideration,” Anakin said, relishing in their startled expressions before walking away._

* * *

Anakin was more concerned with making a statement this time around. It seemed that every victor was unhappy with being there and they shown it. The lack of happiness during the chariot parade, people not showing up to training and some only going for a few hours, and the general anger towards all press and media since arriving in the capitol. It was painfully obvious yet painfully subtle at the same time what happened to Mas Amedda after he made the choice to have two victors instead of one. Anakin took one of the dummies and drew some of Amedda’s most well-known features such as the extensions that he had that were dyed blue. Anakin then proceeded to tie a noose knot and hung the mannequin. He then painted the words Mas Amedda onto the dummy and presented it to the current head gamemaker’s, Bail Organa, and a man named Grievous. Palpatine decided it would be better to have two gamemaker’s after the failure of last year’s gamemaker. Bail raised an eyebrow as if he were almost impressed. Grievous didn't look as impressed. Anakin then did a dramatic bow and left the room.

_“Padmé Amidala”_ It was finally Padmé’s turn. She was the last person to go because she was the District 12 girl. She walked in and saw Anakin’s handiwork and began some handiwork of her own. She had 10 minutes to make an impact. She took the camouflaging and did some painting. But this was not just any painting, this was a statement piece.

* * *

_The District 1 male had just stabbed the 12-year old girl from District 11 all of a sudden. Neither Padmé or her had even heard or saw him coming. Padmé and her became allies when she decided to help Padmé heal a wound caused by a tracker jacker sting using medicinal leaves. Being from District 11, the agriculture district, this girl would have extensive knowledge about many plants and their properties. Padmé retaliated and shot him dead with her bow and arrow as her ally fell to the ground, dying._

_“Padmé?” she weakly said._

_“Yes?”_

_“Sing for me? Your voice reminds me of my mother.”_

_Padmé began to sing as the girl lay on the ground dying. Padmé maintained a hold on her hand the whole time. Despite having tears in her eyes, the girl smiled before Padmé felt the grip loosen and heard a cannon go off with her image appearing in the sky. She was gone. However, Padmé needed to do something special for her, to show the capitol that she’s not just a piece in their games. Padmé picked a bunch of flowers and tucked them underneath her lifeless body. Padmé also made a bouquet and placed them in her dead hands. Padmé finally closed the girl’s eyes and walked away but not before doing the District 12 respect symbol to the cameras._

* * *

Padmé proceeded to paint the death scene of her former ally. The flowers look almost perfect as Padmé drew her body on the centre. She then wrote on the top “Say her name” and on the bottom she wrote “Numa.” 

After a few hours of boring interview outfit discussion, Anakin and Padmé could finally see their training scores along with those of the other tributes. Satine turned on the hologram as Obi-Wan sat next to her, a little closer than Anakin expected but he thought nothing of it. They were always particularly close.

Hondo and one of the gamemakers, Bail Organa came onto the screen as Bail began to read each tributes name and Hondo read the list of scores between 1 and 12 Bail had given him. Anakin and Padmé carefully read into each score of potential allies and adversaries.

Fox, 9, Riyo, 8, Bo-Katan, 10, Cody, 10, Echo, 6, Fives, 10, Shaak, 4, Kix, 7, Barriss, 7, Ventress, 10, Dooku, 6, Ahsoka, 9, Rex, 11, Savage, 10, Jesse, 8, Quinlan, 11. Then it got to the two of them. Both were rebellious in their presented skills so this could either paint a target on their back with a high score or cause some sponsors to not want to sponsor them with lower scores. The way Anakin saw it, he had nothing to lose, same as Padmé.

“Anakin Skywalker” Bail read before Hondo finished “with a score of 12.”

“Padmé Amidala.” “With a score of 11.”

Everyone begins to celebrate when Threepio came with a tray of drinks, each person takes a cup and cheers with Artoo saying, "Great job you two!" before clinking glasses with the others.


	13. Showstopper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hondo interviews an unenthusiastic bunch of victors but his show ends with an unexpected twist

The day had come for Hondo’s tribute interviews. Though this year was different. His stage was set up for himself and the tribute he was interviewing to be stood up with a set of risers in the background, connected to the stage by stairs for the interviewees to stand on before and after their interview. Many of these victors are beloved by the capital. Fox and Riyo’s wedding was broadcast in the capitol, Ahsoka is known as “capitol’s sweetheart”, Fives, Jesse, Rex, and Cody are often in the top 10 of the yearly “sexiest victors”, Anakin and Padmé’s engagement is still trending according to the capitol press so the capitol audience is reluctant to say goodbye to any of them.

Threepio had been hard at work on Padmé’s dress. Palpatine made a special request for Padmé to wear her dream wedding dress but Threepio had other plans.

Threepio made the dress look like Padmé’s dream dress, a v-neck white dress with a lot of embellishment, fit for the Capitol. It had see through sleeves which contained the same glitter designs that laced her dress. The clear sleeves were similar to last years design but the theme was white like a bride as opposed to fire and these sleeves were longer. The dress also had an over piece which resembled a cardigan except it was floor-length, like the dress itself. It was entirely lace, including the short sleeves that draped over her arms. The veil to go with it was covered in jewels and decorative flowers. It sit nicely on her head and covered the entirety of the top of her head. Her hair was left down but in long curls. 

Padmé was stunned when she looked in the mirror.

“My, my, you look perfect,” Threepio said once he was finished.

“Thanks, Threepio. Will there be any twirling tonight?” Padmé asked. 

"Save it for the end, I want it to be a showstopper," Threepio said.

Artoo was also hard at work on Anakin’s outfit. It was a white tuxedo with a black bowtie. Palpatine wanted him to look like a groom considering even if they didn’t want to, Palpatine would make Anakin and Padmé marry one another after last years games. It would be such a scandal for them to break up after tipping the games on their head in the name of love. He had already been making Padmé wear a wedding dress anyways. Anakin was not as patient as Padmé was with her stylist. Artoo had almost finished adjusting the bowtie when Anakin groaned “Are we done yet?”

“Soon enough, just sit still” Artoo replied as he did the final touches.

“There you go,” Artoo said.

“It feels tight,” Anakin complained.

“it’s a tux, it’s supposed to and you thought the suit was bad” Artoo said, he wasn’t surprised that Anakin didn’t have much experience with Tuxes, based on his research, they aren’t commonplace in District 12. Apparently in District 12 at a wedding, the man doesn’t usually wear a suit, just something that is clean and not mining clothes. The thought of that freaked Artoo out since he has lived in the Capitol his entire life where tuxes were commonplace.

“People actually get married wearing this?” Anakin asked in disbelief.

“Yes, Anakin, white tuxes are favoured in the Capitol,” Artoo said. Artoo couldn’t help but smile though, at least Anakin was consistent in hating tight suit outfits.

Artoo then directed Anakin’s attention to the inside of his right sleeve.

“You’re going to be going last so I want you to go out with a bang. This button once activated by your thumbprint will turn your suit into a showstopper.”

As Anakin and Padmé arrived at their green room, Satine puts her hands over her heart as she sees Padmé’s dress and Anakin’s tux. She then says “you would’ve been the most beautiful bride and groom." She then went over to hug her victors.

Obi-Wan interjects to give them a final piece of advice “these victors are angry and will say anything to try and stop the games. I suggest you do the same.”

“Of course I will, I’m angry too!” Anakin said as Hondo started the program and they took their place among the other reaped victors.

* * *

“Welcome, welcome! Tonight, on the eve of the 75th Hunger Games!” The crowd cheers but Hondo silences them to speak some more “We have never seen anything like this and we will never see anything like it again because tonight on this day, 24 of Panem’s brightest stars will compete for the ultimate crown. Tonight will be their final opportunity to express their thoughts and our final opportunity to express our love and unfortunately say goodbye to all but 1.” Hondo quickly drops the sadness and cheers “How exciting, let’s get this show on the road!”

Fox and Riyo are up first, being from District 1. They came out together, hand in hand in matching outfits, Riyo is wearing a red gown while Fox is wearing a red suit with a black bow tie.

Hondo said “I don’t know how we’re going to let you go. You have become a model of true love!”

“We’re not going by choice,” Fox said. He had been pretty quiet since arriving in the Capitol and Anakin had never even heard his voice. He sounded a lot like Rex. 

“We may not have had the chance to have a family of our own but you are our family and I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” Riyo said through tears.

Anakin rolled his eyes watching it and whispered to Padmé “does anyone actually believe this?”

In the audience, Satine was crying while Threepio had a tissue held to his eyes. Obi-Wan offered Satine a tissue for her tears and a reassuring arm that he put around her even though Obi-Wan did not feel the same love for the District 1 tributes.

“Echo, you have contributed so much in the way of inventions to Panem over the years. I don’t know who we’ll miss more, you or your brain” Hondo said with a chuckle.

Echo adjusted his forest green suit jacket and put a serious expression on his face before saying “If the quarter quell were written into law by man then certainly it can be unwritten. I would even question the legality of this.”

Anakin noticed many victors smiling, he noticed Fives in particular who had a look of pride in his friend.

“Interesting perspective," Hondo said.

“Fives! From what I hear you have something you wanted to say to a special somebody, details please!”

“No details but I wanted to say, that my dear, if I die in that arena, my last thought will be of how happy you have made me in my time on this planet but also how wrong it was of the world to rip me away from you like that and that I hope we meet again in another life.” He then pulled out the blue handkerchief from the pocket of his black suit jacket and threw it into the audience, hoping for someone to catch it. Winking as he left the stage.

The Capitol audience ate it up but the victors weren't so gullible. They knew that Fives prided himself on being the most eligible bachelor in District 5 and possibly the whole nation.

Ventress came out in a fury. She had on a deep purple dress with a deep v-neck with purple sparkly heels. Her anger had been radiating off her when she stood next to Hondo.

“Ventress, there have been a lot of tears tonight but you, you’re angry. Why is that?”

“Well of course I’m angry. I’m getting totally screwed over here. When I won, I was told that I would never have to go back into the arena, and I get to live my life in peace. But now, they want to kill me again.” A malicious smile appeared on Ventress’ face and she chuckled before she yelled “ **WELL FUCK THAT!** ” Hondo quickly lowered the mic but that did nothing to lower the volume of Ventress’ voice **“I FUCKING HATE EVERYBODY THAT HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS SHIT!”**

As Ventress walked back to the risers, she stood in front of Padmé and said “A wedding dress? Seriously?”

“Palpatine made me wear it” Padmé responded.

“Make him regret it,” Ventress said with a smile. 

Rex was something of a gentle giant type. He was generally quite polite yet can assert himself at the same time.

“Rex, a lot of people have expressed their distaste with this year's games, care to shed some light?” Hondo asked as every victor so far has said something about how wrong these games or asked why it had to be like this.

“I’m sure the others put it perfectly. We’ll go in like you’ve told us to do but that doesn’t mean we’ll be happy about it and we want that to be known and for history to record it so and will hopefully wonder what the point of this was.”

“We will never forget a guy like you.”

When Ahsoka comes on stage she is wearing a navy blue short dress and she is crying. “Ahsoka, everything alright?”

“No, Hondo, it’s not. I’m not only a 16-year-old girl who’s still old enough to be a tribute, but I’m also a victor who thought I could live the rest of life and never have to face the horrors of the arena again.”

Hondo went in to hug her but she pushed him away as she said “It’s not fair! None of this is fair! Maybe that’s why Ventress yelled at everyone, or why Fives talked of how wrong this whole thing is, or how Echo talked about how law can simply be unwritten, or why Rex wants the world to know how we feel about this. It’s sick. I don’t know how whoever came up with this can live with themselves. Putting teenagers in an arena is bad enough but then putting people who were told that they would never have to play again in a spot where they have to go in the arena again. It’s despicable!”

Anakin was impressed at how bold Ahsoka was with her words.

Once Hondo finishes interviewing Quinlan, who flipped off the camera, knowing Palpatine was watching, it’s Padmé’s turn. She comes out onto the stage. The crowd cheers as they see her dress, giving her a standing ovation.

“Padmé, the wedding, the marriage, never to be?

“Yes, I’m extremely disappointed. I’d much rather be at my wedding than here. No offense Hondo” Padmé said.

“None taken! I must ask, is this the dress you would’ve worn to your wedding to Anakin, had you two not been reaped?”

“Yes, Though I wish I could’ve worn it at an actual wedding rather than here right now.”

“How tragic. This is a tragedy for everyone here and especially for you two."

“Now don’t go crying on me Hondo” Padmé said playfully.

“I can’t help it,” Hondo says with a chuckle. Padmé played along.

“Are there any tricks up your sleeve with this dress again this year?” Hondo asked.

“As a matter of fact I do,” Padmé said as she twirled around. The wedding gown set itself alight, stunning everyone in the crowd.

“You never fail to disappoint me!” Padmé said.

“Your stylist has certainly outdone himself once again hasn’t he!” Hondo said as the camera panned to Threepio who nervously waved.

Palpatine however was not so impressed with Threepio's alterations. Fire was one of the symbols of the brewing rebellion and while there were no rebel protests in the Capitol, fire was still a symbol and Padmé knew it.

Anakin was next to come on stage.

“Anakin, I’m sure you’re just as disappointed as your bride.”

“These games put a wrench in everything, I wish they never happened. However, Padmé and I got married, in secret” Anakin says with a smile and a blush creeping up onto his face. 

The crowd gasped, as did Hondo. 

"Oh?" Hondo asked, shocked. 

"Yea, we wouldn't have any regrets at all if it weren't for the news I learned recently," Anakin said.

“What did you learn?” Hondo asked.

Anakin stammered for a minute before blurting it out.

“That Padmé is pregnant.”

Padmé was not pregnant, nor was she aware of what Anakin was going to say though if he was trying to get the games canceled, this would be a way to do so. However, it also gave Padmé a few unwarranted looks from the other victors.

The audience gasped as one person yelled **“STOP THE GAMES!”** A clear Padmé and Anakin fan. Hondo tries to pacify the crowd but to no avail “Calm down, this is news to us too!” While the crowd was erupting in what looked to be rioting, Anakin pressed a button in his tux sleeve. His suit turned charcoal black except for a few areas which turned a bright orange. When Anakin stood in his normal stance, the orange formed the shape for the rebellion, a less subtle symbol, creating only more chaos in the audience.

Obi-Wan, simply nodded his head in pride, as if he were in on this. Satine was not in on it though as she was crying. Obi-Wan tried to calm her down while Anakin was gestured towards the other victors. Anakin immediately hugged Padmé. Anakin joins hands with Padmé, who then joins hands with Quinlan and so on and so forth until every victor has joined hands. Once everyone joins hands, they raise them in the air in solidarity and as an act of dissent, they had nothing to lose. This did nothing to pacify the crowd and as Hondo looked behind him, he was horrified at what he saw. He then quickly turned out the lights and ended the show. In the Capitol, district unity was a sign that dark times are coming as it caused the original event that the hunger games formed from, the dark days. 

* * *

After the lights went out, peacekeepers stormed in and dragged each victor off the stage. There were much more peacekeepers than victors on the scene. Some victors like the careers and the older victors went without issue but some tried to fight back. Quinlan resisted and more peacekeepers grabbed hold of him. Kix gave a peacekeeper a dirty look and the same thing happened. Echo was also given more restraints after something he said, although Anakin didn't hear what Echo said. Fives walked over and tried to defend Echo loudly saying "He didn't say anything illegal!" but was then restrained as were Ahsoka, Jesse, and Rex when they moved towards Echo and Fives. Ventress was tackled after she pushed a peacekeeper away from her. More peacekeepers approached Anakin and Padmé too and they were separated from one another as everyone was escorted separately back to their floors. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ventress and Johanna are the same character in different fonts, you can't change my mind haha 
> 
> I made a tumblr if anyone wants to follow me on there: chibi-beaver


	14. The Beginning of the 3rd Quarter Quell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 75th hunger games commence as 24 previous victors are lifted into the arena.

Once Anakin and Padmé are escorted out of the interview, Satine begins to scold Anakin.

“What were you thinking?!”

“I was just following Obi-Wan’s advice,” Anakin said defensively.

Obi-Wan intervened on Anakin’s behalf, “and he did a good job too. It got the crowd riled up. I distinctly heard someone say stop the games.”

Satine sat down on the couch in a huff but chooses not to argue more. 

"While it was a stroke of genius, the games are still on," Obi-Wan said with a sad expression on his face.

* * *

Morning came fast as Anakin heard a knock on the door. The sunrise shone into the window as Padmé raised her head off of Anakin's chest. 

"Good morning," she said as she looked at her fiancé. 

"Good morning," Anakin replied as he ran a hand through her messy morning hair. 

"I don't wanna get up," Padmé said. 

"Me neither," Anakin said as there was another knock at the door. 

"Although I think we have to," Padmé said as she sat up and stretched. 

"I'll see you soon?" Anakin said as he started to get up as well. 

"See you soon," Padmé said.

Anakin noticed a set of clothes laid out for him in the bathroom. Anakin had been given tight black pants with green t-shirts and boots, similar to the ones he had last year. When Anakin left his room, Padmé was also leaving her room in the same outfit that Anakin was wearing, except it was made for her body. Satine was already up, waiting for them in the living room when they left their rooms. Usually, she was the last one to get up so this was a surprise.

“Satine? You’re up early”, Anakin said.

“Yes, I wanted to say goodbye before you two go into the arena again. You both deserved so much better,” Satine said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Padmé immediately went in for a hug, Anakin soon followed as Satine continued, “I am truly sorry for everything that has transpired and I am so proud of my victors.”

“Thank you Satine,” Padmé said. Obi-Wan came out into the living room signifying that it was time for them to go.

Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé went outside where the hovercraft was waiting for them.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for us,” Anakin said as Padmé nodded in agreement.

“One more thing, you will know who your allies are. They won’t try to kill you.”

“How are we supposed to know who is and isn’t trying to kill us?” Anakin asked.

“You’ll know”.

“Any last advice?” Padmé asked.

“Last piece of advice, stay alive,” Obi-Wan says before Anakin and Padmé are put onto the hovercraft and get their tracking devices implanted into their arms.

Once off the hovercraft, each tribute is escorted by peacekeepers to a private room with their stylists right below the arena. Padmé receive her black jacket that Threepio carefully zips up. it's made of a light material, like the rest of the clothing she's wearing. This is also where Threepio fixes Padmé’s hair into her iconic braid.

Threepio carefully braided Padmé’s hair to ensure that it’ll stay in the entire time she is in the arena.

_“60 seconds.”_

“There you go!” Threepio said before hugging Padmé.

_“50 seconds.”_

Padmé is reluctant to let go but Threepio pulls away but lets his forehead rest on Padmé’s before she slowly makes her way to the tube waiting for her.

“ _40 seconds.”_

Once Padmé gets into the tube there are only 30 seconds left. The tube quickly closes so she can’t escape. Threepio smiles at her and she smiles back.

Meanwhile, Anakin had also just walked into his tube after being given his own black jacket.

Artoo mouthed, "stay alive”, as the tube closed, preventing Anakin from escaping.

_“30 seconds.”_

Then peacekeepers burst into the room, two immediately take hold of Artoo while another starts to beat him.

_“20 seconds.”_

“NOOOO!” Anakin screams but to no avail. 

_“10 seconds.”_

Artoo’s head is bashed against the tube as he falls unconscious.

**“NO!”** Anakin screamed. Peacekeepers begin to drag him out as Anakin is raised up into the arena. The sun shone right into his eyes as another 60-second countdown started. Padmé looked to him who was on the other side of the arena from her, in between Fives and Ahsoka. Anakin looked around and saw that he was between Rex and Barriss.

The arena looked like it was divided into twelve parts, there were two podiums between every rocky strip of land with water in between each land strip. Behind them were a series of different themes all blended together.  
One was a jungle, then a rainforest which shifts to a temperate forest, to a meadow. Then there were a series of grasslands leading to a beach which then went to a sandy desert. There was also an abandoned city section that was next to a wasteland that slowly becomes frozen until a snowy wonderland.

Once the gong sounded, everyone ran or swam to the cornucopia. The outfits were designed to dry quickly and not hinder ones swimming but also to be able to put on or remove layers depending on what part of the arena one was in. Anakin made it to the cornucopia first, followed by Fives. Anakin immediately picked up a few spears and shot one into Fox's foot as he tried to approach the cornucopia though the wound was non-fatal. Fives went to pick up a set of knives as Anakin prepared to throw a spear at him while more people approached. 

“Good thing we’re allies right?” Fives said, flashing his wrist, showing a gold bracelet as he is surrendering to Anakin.

“Where did you get that?” Anakin asked. It was the same bracelet that Satine gave to Obi-Wan, himself and Padmé.

“Where do you think?” Fives asked. His eyebrow raised at something behind Anakin.

“Duck,” Fives said as he grabbed a nearby axe.

Anakin obliged as Fives threw the axe into the District 4 boy’s chest killing him instantly as he tried to attack Anakin. 

“Don’t trust 1,4 or Bo-Katan, Cody’s on our side but he's sticking with the careers until either Bo-Katan dies or the alliance crumbles, whatever happens first. He’s scared Bo-Katan will rip his throat out if he doesn’t stick with her. I’ll take this side, you hold them off on that side” Fives said as he withdrew the axe from his first victim and kept a trident in his sight. Anakin picked up a bow for Padmé while he was on his side of the cornucopia.

“Shaak found Padmé,” Fives said to Anakin. The girl from District 10 is trying to drown her until Rex jumps in to save her and Ahsoka makes her way to the cornucopia to pick up some throwing knives. Ahsoka didn’t immediately try to kill him but she showed her bracelet, showing that she’s an ally. Ahsoka and Anakin go to see what’s happening as Rex swims over to Padmé who is currently underwater. Fives then takes the trident and a sword for Rex before he comes over too. Anakin hears a cannon and is fearful once he sees a body float into the water but is relieved once Padmé surfaces. Out of the corner of her eye, Padmé spots the career pack and Cody gives them a look. 

"If I know Cody, that means we need to get out of here," Rex says as he gestured towards the forest.

They run through the temperate forest. They come to a stop and crouch down to come up with a plan as they hear a few cannons go off, at this point, both tributes from District 4 are gone, the girl from 11 and the girl from 10 are gone.

* * *

Meanwhile, another group formed consisting of Echo, Ventress, Kix, Jesse, and Quinlan Echo points out the forcefield to his group of allies. When they unexpectedly come across Dooku.

"Mind if I join?" Dooku asked. Ventress gave him a glare but Echo subtly points to the force field. They walk closer to it as Echo describes more about it until Ventress pushes Dooku into it, killing him before walking away with her group.

* * *

“I can’t believe how much I missed the sound of the cannon in the arena,” Fives says as the cannon goes off for Dooku.

“You think that’s funny?” Anakin snarled.

“Listen, every time that cannon goes off it’s music to my ears. I don’t care about any of them. I think we should be patting ourselves on the back since the career pack is weakened thanks to both tributes from 4 being gone.”

“Good to hear it,” Anakin says sarcastically as he takes out a spear.

“If you wanna face the rest of the career pack alone, go for it, but I promise that you wouldn’t make it out of this forest before someone ends both of you. What would Obi-Wan say?”

“Obi-Wan isn’t here,” Anakin replies.

“Let’s keep moving. We need to find some water,” Padmé says to change the subject as both she and Shaak are uncomfortable with this conversation.

“I agree, we can’t stay here long,” Rex said.

Rex uses the axe Fives got from the Cornucopia to move stray branches out of the way as Fives carries Shaak on his back. She can’t walk like she used to anymore and had become quite exhausted. Fives stops suddenly to look closely at something. He then says, “we need to go the other way, Echo mentioned to me once that force fields sometimes shimmer and that’s some shimmering alright.”

It was common knowledge, especially among victors, that the arena is protected by a force field, lots of tributes have run into it over the years.

The group turns around and walks in the other direction in search of fresh water. Padmé keeps throwing rocks at what looks like nothing trying to keep track of the force field that Fives talked about. Padmé climbs a tree and shoots an arrow at the sky only for it to bounce off the force field.

Normally, Obi-Wan would’ve invited other victors to watch the games with him but almost everyone he would’ve invited is in the arena and there are new restrictions on floor to floor travel, thus allowing people to only travel from their own floor to the lobby and the training area. As Obi-Wan watched the scene unfold. he feared for Padmé, even more, considering what using the force field as a weapon did to Obi-Wan after the games were over.

* * *

_Obi-Wan had reached the top of a cliff. He threw a rock out into the abyss while thinking of where to go next. Suddenly, the same rock he threw bounced back up and he caught it. Obi-Wan looked down off the edge of the cliff and saw shimmering. A force field he thought. This could come in handy._

_Later in the games when it was only two tributes left, Obi-Wan lured Maul, the boy from District 9 up onto the same cliff where Maul then threw his axe at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan ducked as the axe went out into the abyss but Obi-Wan knew something Maul didn’t. The axe was coming back._

_Maul and Obi-Wan were left weaponless until Maul’s malicious expression turned to one of terror as the axe came back and lodged itself into Maul’s skull and he fell to the ground. Obi-Wan had just won the 50 th Hunger Games but at a cost. _

_President Palpatine made Obi-Wan an offer to be a source of pleasure for wealthy capitol citizens as payment for the anger he had caused Palpatine while in the arena and to make use of his desirability in the capitol. Obi-Wan declined the offer. Palpatine made it seem like this was okay. However, soon after Obi-Wan returned to District 12, his girlfriend, Siri Tachi and her family were killed. Soon after that, his adoptive father was killed and Obi-Wan held him in his final moments. Obi-Wan had become an orphan again but this time there was no one to help him._

* * *

“We’re at the edge of the arena,” Padmé said.

“I think we should set up camp for the night, at least here we can turn our backs and be safe with the force field and all. I can take the first watch,” Fives said.

“Not a chance. I’m not falling for that trick,” Padmé said.

“If I wanted to kill you or Anakin, I’d have done it by now sweetheart,” Fives said as he stepped closer with his trident in his hand but not raised.

“You should get some rest, I’ll take the first watch,” Anakin said as he put his hand on Padmé’s shoulder.

When it becomes dark, Ahsoka, Rex, Shaak and Padmé are sound asleep as Fives and Anakin try to bond.

“Were you always so cocky and annoying?” Anakin asked as he played with a pebble.

Instead of responding angrily, Fives said, “I'm not _that_ cocky. After I was reaped, Shaak told me I could pull off the charmer persona well. So, I did that. I assumed I would die in the arena anyways. But after I won it had to become part of me, as second nature as breathing. Though with it comes a certain level of pride in one's abilities". Fives shrugged after he finished his sentence.

“Oh? Don't you think you took the Charmer aspect a little far?” Anakin said, surprised at the answer but also remembering what he saw when he watched Fives' games.

"You know just as well as I do that nothing is too far in the arena except maybe cannibalism," Fives said with a slight chuckle. Once it got quiet again, Fives said, "Sometimes I wish I didn't go into the arena. If I didn’t go into that arena, maybe I would’ve lived a much more peaceful life away from the spotlight but I had my reasons." Fives paused briefly before changing the subject.

"What about you, what you did at the end of your games was a daring move. I’m sure someone had a bone to pick with you.”

“Yea, both me and Padmé.”

Fives looks around for secret microphones and whispers away from them, “I’d do anything for my family, especially my brother, and he takes advantage of that. He used Obi-Wan as an example as to what happens to people who don’t do his bidding.”

“What happened to Obi-Wan?” Anakin asked quietly.

“Wait you don’t know? There’s a reason he has nobody.”

Their whispering is interrupted by the end of the day dead tribute slideshow. Though, Anakin knew what Fives was implying.

The girl from 10, both District 4 tributes, Dooku, Barriss, the girl from 11, and the girl from 3.

The music accompanying the slide show woke Ahsoka who then heard a faint chime.

“Sponsor gift,” she said as she climbed the tree it landed in. She jumped down with it in her hand and the three of them open it.

“Drink up -O.W.K” Anakin read. Anakin knew those initials stood for Obi-Wan Kenobi.

“Drink up?” Ahsoka asked.

“Yea, it’s a spile, wake up Rex, Shaak and Padmé please?” Fives said.

Ahsoka obliged, shaking both of them and saying, “water.”

Anakin jammed the spile into the tree and water came out of it. Each person took turns trying to get a drink of water. All of them had become dehydrated so water helped a lot. Fives gets some water into some leaves and brings it to Shaak who quickly drinks it and asks for more. He obliges to her request. Soon after, the spile is pulled from the tree and the others go back to sleep, leaving just Anakin and Fives.

During Anakin and Fives’ watch, they began to smell something suspicious. As Anakin got closer to the mist, he touched it only to find himself in a lot of pain.

“We need to get moving!” Anakin yelled to wake everyone. Fives carried Shaak on his back while everyone keeps running. This slows him down as he begins to struggle with carrying Shaak after he gets hit with fog.

“I can help,” Anakin said, Rex looked like he wanted to offer help too. Shaak lowered herself off Fives back but instead of hopping onto Anakin’s back she kissed Fives on the cheek and whispered “Don’t worry about me” as she walked into the poisonous fog.

“Shaak? Shaak!” Fives called out but it was too late. Fives watched in horror as his mentor walked into the poisonous fog and a cannon went off.

“Fives we have to go!” Rex said as he dragged him along to get them to run from the fog and into a somewhere safe.


	15. We Got Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin, Padmé, Rex, Ahsoka, and Fives escape the poisonous fog only to figure out some of the other traps in the arena before running into some other tributes

After barely escaping the poisonous fog, Rex watched in amazement as the fog seeming to go up in the sky but not come any closer to them. They also now find themselves in an area with no trees. Just a grassy field with a ton of wildflowers. Fives noticed a lake and begins to lower his hand in it. He screams in pain for a moment but then notices the welts caused by the fog starting to get better.

“The water helps,” Fives said as Rex decided to try it out. He also screamed in pain for a moment until his welts began to shrink.

"We have no cover here though," Padmé pointed out as Fives and Rex sit in the lake.

The group didn’t get much of a break however when they began to notice this section has a lot of insects. Ahsoka took a closer look and noticed what they were.

“Tracker Jackers!” Ahsoka said as she ran towards the group who were still at the lake. They moved back into the temperate forest which has been cleared of the fog and set up camp for the night.

“Me and Ahsoka can keep watch, you and Anakin need some sleep,” Rex says to Fives. Rex and Fives have been friends for years. Rex was one of the first victors, besides Echo to befriend a 15-year-old Fives when he had first won and was a big help in dealing with the newfound fame that came with being a victor.

“I can stay up, get some rest. Me and Ahsoka can keep watch,” Fives said.

“How about this, I sleep, and you and Rex keep watch if you refuse to sleep,” Ahsoka said. She knew that maybe if Rex just talked to him for a bit, maybe he’ll go to sleep and Rex will wake her or Padmé up to keep watch with him. 

“Fine. I’m in no mood to sleep anyways,” Fives said. Anakin tried to protest but Padmé stopped him before whispering, “if he was going to kill us, he would’ve at the cornucopia.” This calmed Anakin enough to prepare to go to sleep with his arm around Padmé and Ahsoka close by. Padmé and Ahsoka fell asleep fairly quickly but Anakin struggled a little. He still didn’t fully trust Fives, but he did trust Rex which allowed him to fall asleep for about an hour before everyone heard 12 gong sounds, and then lightning repeatedly struck a tree in what appeared to be a grassland. Anakin thought nothing of it and went back to sleep.

“Fives I really think you should get some sleep,” Rex said after everyone else had fallen asleep.

“I know I should, but I can’t.”

“Shaak was an amazing woman, no doubt about that at all. But she would rather if you slept, I can already picture her lecturing you about not sleeping,” Rex said as he tried to get a distraught Fives to get some sleep.

“I can’t help but feel her death was my fault.”

“It wasn’t though. She chose this because she didn’t want to hinder you. Anakin offered to carry her, but she declined and I wanted to help too and she still refused. She knew she wasn’t going to make it out of the arena alive and I’m sure you knew that too.”

“I did but that doesn’t mean her death doesn’t hurt any less. She was like a mom to me, especially since my own mom died,” Fives said with a chuckle before continuing, “My dad was glad we got a new house but they weren’t sure how to deal with me now being famous in the Capitol, that’s where she stepped in, she coached me on how to say the right thing, look my best without stylists, how to be confident in front of all the cameras, not that I needed much coaching on the last part. I can never repay her for how she helped me both before and after the games,” Fives said, reflecting on his time with Shaak.

"She didn't deserve any of this but at least it was quick," Rex said as he put a reassuring hand on Fives' shoulder.

* * *

When Anakin woke up, Fives was asleep and Ahsoka was up with Rex.   
“Padmé and I can take over,” Anakin said. It was almost morning, but it was still fairly dark.

“I’m up now anyways but I don’t mind you and Padmé joining me,” Ahsoka said.

“Ok,” Padmé said as she woke up.

“So Ahsoka, what’s your story?” Padmé asked.

“Well, I’m sure you already know I won my games at 13.”

“Well yea everyone knows that. Who are you outside the games though? Obviously, it changed your life. It certainly changed ours, but you’ve been a victor longer.” Padmé said.

“Oh, well living in Victors Village is much better than other houses in District 8, though going to school is weird because everyone knows I’ve killed someone,” Ahsoka says with a chuckle. “I’m definitely the only person with dyed hair in 8,” Ahsoka said, pointing to the blue and white strands of hair intertwined with the rest of her hair in the two braids her stylist put in. 

“At least you didn’t file your teeth,” Anakin commented in reference to how Bo-Katan filed a few of her teeth into fangs after winning. This elicited a quiet chuckle out of the younger girl. A faint chime is heard and Padmé notices a sponsor gift. She gets to it and opens it.

“Ointment,” she says.

“Probably for Rex and Fives,” Anakin comments.

“The sun’s rising anyways, let’s wake them,” Ahsoka said as she walked towards them. She shakes both tributes awake as Padmé shows them the ointment and the two apply it to the bits that were hit by the fog. Some fog got onto Fives’ back when he was carrying Shaak and some got onto Rex’s arms and hands when he had to pull Fives away. Rex takes off his jacket so he can apply it to all the welts and then helps Fives get the ointment to the right spot on his back. Anakin also put a little bit on his hands from when he figured out that the fog was poisonous. This is also the first time Anakin notices the different colours of jackets. Everyone is wearing black pants, but everyone has different shirts and jackets. District 8’s jackets are navy blue and their shirts white. District 5 has grey jackets with blue shirts.

Afterward, the group got going to explore the arena, there was a reason they were given layers. They traverse and end up in the jungle without facing any traps but they need to get more water so they use the spile that Padmé managed to grab before escaping the poison fog to tap the tree inland while Ahsoka and Fives went towards the shore but were still within sight, making sure to take a drink of water before they left since none of the other water in the arena seemed to be drinkable. They all took their jackets off and pinned them around their waists since the jungle was so hot. There was some form of shore in each sector as there was water between the main area of the arena and the cornucopia. Ahsoka looks up at the palm tree and notices coconuts and begins to climb the tree.

“Ahsoka, you’ll get the careers onto us!” Fives said.

“Ahsoka what are you doing?” Anakin said after noticing her climbing the tall tree.

“Coconuts! We need food,” Ahsoka said.

As much as Anakin hated it, he had to agree with Fives that the careers will notice them as Ahsoka knocks a couple of coconuts down which Fives and Anakin catch before making her way back down.

“What the?” Anakin said as he saw a group of people come out of the rainforest-covered in blood. Anakin, Ahsoka, and Fives readied their weapons, as did Padmé and Rex who came to investigate, taking the spile with them. Fives squinted and noticed Echo among them.

“Echo!” Fives called out enthusiastically.

“Fives!” Echo said with the same enthusiasm as they went towards each other, the others from their groups proceeded. Echo brought with him, Ventress, Kix, and Jesse. Anakin notices the array of jacket and shirt colours. Echo has a dark green jacket, the same colour as Anakin’s shirt, with a grey shirt. Ventress has a red jacket with a black shirt. Jesse has a yellow jacket with a brown shirt and Kix has a lavender jacket with a black shirt. He then realizes it’s the jackets meant to be distinctive, not the shirts. Echo, Ventress, Kix, and Jesse prepare to wash the blood off themselves.

“What happened to you guys?” Ahsoka asked with her arms folded.

“We were in the jungle this morning when some fucked up monkeys came after us, we got to the beach and then went into the rainforest so we could have some cover. That's when the rain started. Thick, hot blood, ugh!" Ventress angrily said.

“Quinlan sacrificed himself to the carnivorous monkeys to save us,” Kix said.

“Shaak Ti sacrificed herself to the poisonous fog for us too,” Fives said.

“Tick-tock,” Echo said.

“SHUT UP ECHO!” Ventress yelled.

“No, wait. I think he’s onto something, there's some pattern to all of this, I'm positive. We were running from the fog last night and shortly after we were attacked by tracker jackers,” Fives says goes into the water.

“Tick-tock?” Fives asks.

“Tick-tock,” Echo said.

Fives thought about this for a moment before coming to a conclusion.

“The arena, the arena is a clock?” Fives said as Echo nodded. The group sat on the shore and drew out a clock.

“So, we ran into the blood rain after waking up in the jungle to a bunch of human-eating monkeys,” Jesse said.

“We dealt with poisonous fog in the temperate forest, then tracker jackers in the meadow” Anakin said.

“Right after that was lightning striking a tree, that’s probably 12 assuming there are 12 wedges,” Rex said.

“Ok, which makes poisonous fog 10-11 and tracker jackers 11-12. This puts the blood rain around 9-10 and the monkeys around 8-9.” Echo said.

“I saw a tsunami hit the beach right after the lightning,” Ventress said.

“Ok, that’s 1-2.”

“The cornucopia looks as if it’s pointing to that tree that was struck” Ahsoka points out.

“How about this, we go to the cornucopia to get supplies and see if we can see other traps and how to avoid them. By now the poison fog is in the temperate forest so we need to avoid that area” Padmé said. 

"That sounds like a good idea," Kix said as he looked towards the cornucopia and saw nobody there.

* * *

“There seems to be more supplies here than before,” Echo points out as Ahsoka and Anakin check to see if there are any other tributes around. Ahsoka collects some more throwing knives, Echo picked up a coil of wire, he looked at it inquisitively before saying “I invented this kind of wire myself, it’s similar to the one I used in my hunger games.”

“So, I assume you’re gonna protect it with your life,” Fives teased.   
“I may give it to you on occasion,” Echo retorts with a smile.

“I doubt that,” Fives said with a chuckle while picking up a knife.

All of a sudden, Fox comes out of nowhere and stabs Kix with a sword, Jesse is horrified as Kix's body falls to the ground, simultaneous with a cannon. As Fox prepared to move onto Fives, Jesse retaliates in anger by throwing a nearby axe into Fox’s chest with a cannon going off immediately after as Fox's corpse lay on the ground. Riyo is horrified upon seeing this, Riyo goes for Jesse who takes out his sickle but before he can use it, Padmé shoots her with her bow and arrow, hitting her in the chest.

At the same time, Bo-Katan goes for a now off-guard Jesse and manages to cut his leg but then Cody tries to kill her, showing his true allegiance. Bo-Katan is confused and in shock as she and Cody fight. Anakin, Rex, and Fives join in while Ahsoka checks in on Jesse who is bleeding. Padmé and Echo stay together to ensure nothing happens to the wire because it seems that Echo has a plan.

“I should’ve known you were with them!” Bo-Katan yells as she fights with Cody.

“Maybe if you haven’t threatened to rip my throat out in my sleep, I would’ve trusted you!” Cody retaliates as Rex moves to stab her in the chest with his sword.

“You would’ve done the same if it meant living rather than dying!” Bo-Katan says as she dodges Rex and slices Cody’s leg.

“But you liked it so much you filed your teeth into fangs!" Cody says as he leaves a cut on her forehead with his knife. Though the wound was only superficial. The rest of the group begins to move towards Bo-Katan, hoping to protect Cody.

“You’re dead to me!” Bo-Katan said as she stabbed him in the chest with her sword. Cody crumpled onto the ground and a cannon went off. However, Bo-Katan realizes she’s outnumbered right after Fives slices her arm and sees Anakin preparing to throw a spear at her. She then runs away and the group lets her.

* * *

Obi-Wan and Satine tensely watch the scene unfold when Threepio bursts into the apartment.

“There you are, we’ve been worried sick. Where’s Artoo?” Satine asked. She knew Artoo and Threepio were really close.

“You didn’t see the news story?” Threepio asked. 

“No,” Obi-Wan said.

“Artoo was arrested the day of the games and died while being interrogated,” Threepio said.

“What?” Satine asked in shock.

“I need to get out of here before they come for me too,” Threepio nervously said.

“Talk to Bail Organa, he’s our man on the inside, for now, avoid any trouble or danger,” Obi-Wan whispered.

Satine brings up the news story about Artoo.

“Apparently he was a traitor!” Satine said.

“Let me see,” Obi-Wan said as Satine showed him.

“All because he made some alterations to Anakin’s tux! Preposterous! Threepio is next for sure,” Obi-Wan said after reading.

“What do we do?” Satine asked.

“Satine,” Obi-Wan said softly as he put his hands on Satine’s shoulders before continuing “If stuff like this happens to Artoo, and Threepio is rightfully fearful for his life, you could be arrested too for being associated with him and face interrogation that could kill you and quite frankly, I don’t want you to end up in capitol custody and die,” Obi-Wan said.

Satine remained silent, contemplating her options.

“This could come back to all of us who were ever associated with Anakin or Padmé, me, you, Artoo, any of the other victors in the arena, or any victors outside the arena. The rebellion is happening Satine, the Capitol is showing their true colours and I don’t want you caught in the crossfire. I'm inviting you to come with me when we make our escape” Obi-Wan said as he held his hand out.

“I didn’t realize you cared that much," Satine said as she put her hand in Obi-Wan's.

“Of course I did,” Obi-Wan said as he pulled Satine into a hug.

Satine was the only consistent person in Obi-Wan’s life after his family was killed. They were also both sources of comfort for one another year after year as their tributes died, most often in the bloodbath of the first day.

Satine looked into Obi-Wan's eyes and said, “I hope you know that I’ve always loved you despite how often you ticked me off".

It was an odd place and time for a love confession but it felt right to her, especially if the Capitol tries to pull anything on her.

“Oh, I know, you always had a special place in my heart too, my dear. I just wish the circumstances were better. But for now, we need to secure our escape once Echo figures out a plan with that wire,” Obi-Wan said as he pointed to the hologram television. “And it looks like he already has.”

* * *

Echo motions for everyone to come over as lightning strikes the tree repeatedly.

“Ok, who’s left?” Echo asks.

“Well this alliance, Savage, the girl from 9, Bo-Katan, and I think that’s it,” Anakin said. 

"Ventress, Jesse, what did the monkeys not like?" 

"The beach," Ventress said.

“Ok, we can wrap this wire around a tree and drag it into the water. The only reason no one is on the beach now is because we're here, once we leave, people may come to the beach. If the wire is in the water, everyone on the beach will be electrocuted. The lightning strikes at 12 so I think we could pull this off. Just keep me alive for the next little while is all I ask in return” Echo said. 

* * *

In the gamemaker’s headquarters, Grievous is currently on shift since he and Bail do alternating shifts. Grievous notices the tributes figuring out what time things happen so he decides to throw them off their course.

“Give it a spin!” Grievous said as the cornucopia begins to spin.

“Let’s see how they tell time now," Grievous said while laughing and coughing as the cornucopia spun around.

* * *

The cornucopia begins to spin violently, knocking everyone on the island over. Ventress hammers her axe into the rocks and grabbed onto Ahsoka. Anakin and Padmé both grabbed onto the rocks, Jesse held on by his sickle, creating a chain with Fives, Echo, and Rex. As the cornucopia started to spin faster, the alliance gets propelled off the cornucopia and into the water surrounding it. Ventress appears to be struggling to swim while looking for her axe but Ahsoka manages to bring her back above the water and find her axe. The group then swims to the beach in front of the intermediary forest between the snowy forest and the jungle.


	16. Bonding Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An incident with jabberjays causes the group to bond. Meanwhile, Anakin evaluates his and Padmé's options

Once the group got back to the beach, they sat in the sand to discuss their next move.

“How can we find Savage?” Anakin asks.

“Well Savage is close with the girl from 9 so maybe we could get her and drag Savage out of the woods,” Fives suggests as he seems to notice some oysters nearby.

“But where are her and Savage is the question?” Ahsoka asks while eyeing the same oysters. 

“Why do we need to find Savage though if we’re gonna do the wire thing?” Echo said.

“I don’t know but I think that’s the girl from 9,” Fives said, answering both Ahsoka and Echo’s questions as he sees a brunette girl peeking around through the trees.

“I know her and Savage are fairly close, she won the 49th hunger games I think, she’s one of the first victors I remember from when I was younger,” Jesse said.

“I think I have a way to lure her,” Fives said with a devious look on his face.

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna flirt with her, you don't need to kill a few hours too,” Echo said as he shook his head.

“Echo’s right. Besides, she’ll never fall for that” Rex said.

“I have my ways,” Fives said as he began to make his way over.

“How did such a dumbass win the hunger games?” Echo muttered under his breath.

Fives walked through the woods, while the rest of the alliance stationed themselves around the trees in case anything went wrong.

As Fives got closer, the girl from 9 pulled her weapon on him, a machete but he managed to convince her to lower it.

“I’m not here to kill you,” Fives said.

“Then what are you here for?” She said, apprehensively.

“I noticed you were looking for food and I found some oysters around the beach we could share,” Fives said.

“I’m not falling for your tricks Fives.”

“It’s not a trick, I just noticed someone who seems nice looking for food and I am also someone nice who can offer food.”

“How do I know this isn’t a trick?”

“I haven’t killed you and I have a weapon in my hand. Besides, I wouldn’t want to mar up such a pretty face. If I didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t have expected someone like you to have won the 49th games” Fives said. Fives moved closer to the girl who raised her weapon slightly. He moved her hand down as he started to whisper something. Anakin couldn't make out what he had said. Perhaps that was for the better as the girl started to giggle and colour began to rise up to her cheeks.

“Well if you put it like that,” the girl said, blushing. 

Rex gestured for them all to get back to the beach to make this ploy convincing.

“I hope we don’t mind one more” Fives said as he brought the District 9 girl down to the beach. The rest of the group made it look like they had just picked up some oysters.

The group soon begins to eat. Fives is looking for a weak spot where he can easily kill the District 9 girl.

Anakin notices a pearl in the oyster and cleans it off in the water to give to Padmé.

“For you,” Anakin says as he hands it to her.

“It’s so beautiful,” Padmé says as she kisses Anakin on the beach and puts the pearl in her jacket pocket for safekeeping.

“So, where have you been all games?” Fives asked their new "ally".

“I’ve stuck to the woods, to be honest, but me and Savage got separated this morning when we were attacked by poisonous fog.” 

"That has to be tough, Shaak couldn't escape the poisonous fog on the first night, I was with Anakin, Padmé, Ahsoka and Rex that night and we barely escaped," Fives said. 

"So where did everyone else come from" the district 9 girl said as she kept her hand on the machete. 

"We ran into Echo, Jesse, and Ventress on earlier today after the blood rain poured on them. 

"Savage and I barely escaped the blood rain without choking on it yesterday night." 

"I heard it was brutal," Fives said before he turned to Echo.

"Echo? How did you find the blood rain?" Fives said. 

"Don't even remind me of it," Echo responded. 

"That's exactly how I feel about it too," the girl said as she chuckled a little and started to let her guard down.

Fives notices the girl put her machete down behind her onto the sand.

“I’ll be back in a moment,” Fives says as Padmé throws the spile over to him the spile as an excuse for why he’s getting up, the girl looks excited to get fresh water but doesn’t turn around as she keeps eating her food. Fives walks towards the tree and pretends to be trying to get the spile in the tree.

"You gotta put a little elbow grease in it!" Rex said as the girl turned towards Rex and Fives but soon turned back around, the act must have been convincing enough to her. Fives soon sneaks back to the beach. He then quickly picks up her machete and stabs her in the back.

“I should’ve known better!” The girl said as she turned to pick up her weapon only to see Fives holding it and the blade draped with her blood.

“Then maybe you should’ve killed me first like you planned to,” Fives said as he finished her off and a cannon went off.

“Is this what you did to all your victims?” Anakin asked condescendingly already knowing that the answer was yes just not usually in broad daylight.

“I didn’t do that at the cornucopia,” Fives replied cheekily as he withdrew the machete from the girl's corpse.

“Fives!” Rex shouted as Savage came running out of the woods. He must have seen Fives pull the machete out of her. Padmé shoots an arrow into his hand as Ahsoka throws a knife that hits his arm. Fives goes to stab him with the girl’s machete that still has her blood on it but Savage throws Fives to the ground and prepares to stab him with his spear before Ventress intervenes, throwing an axe that hits Savage in the head. As he falls to the ground, the cannon goes off, signifying his death.

“You owe me one,” Ventress says as she helps Fives up off the ground.

“I’m not sure if we’ll have enough time to get the wire around the tree and to the beach,” Padmé says.

“Either way we need to get off this beach, thanks Fives,” Rex says sarcastically.

“What? We got rid of District 9, you’re welcome.”

“Maybe if you didn’t feel the need to flirt with a girl who’s almost twice your age, we would’ve been able to do this tonight,” Echo said.

“Either way, you heard the girl, they probably weren’t going to go to the beach anyway so they wouldn’t have been electrocuted,” Fives said.

Ahsoka notices the blizzard in the snow sector, “maybe we should get moving through the forest so we don’t get killed by this sector’s trap which based on the direction things are moving, is next.”

“I agree,” Echo says as the group goes into the forest. They walk around in the forest next to the snow sector which fluctuates in temperature depending on how close to the snowy sector, preparing themselves for the cold when they go in there after the blizzard is over. If this is like other traps, it’ll only be an hour.

As the blizzard ends, the group prepares to go into the snowy forest when Anakin hears something that sounds like his mother screaming his name as if in pain.

**“ANI!”**

**“ANAKIN!”**

Anakin ran in the direction in which he heard the scream. Fives and Padmé went after him but they heard screams of their own.

**“FIVES!”**

Fives knew that sound, it was his younger brother Hevy.

* * *

_“Now for the boys,” The escort for District 5 said before reaching into the bowl of paper slips with the name of every boy between the ages of 12 and 18._

_She opened the slip of paper._

_“Hevy-”_

_There was only one person in 5 named Hevy. That was his 12-year old brother. Curse their unique names. Fives knew what he had to do. Before she got a chance to say his last name, Fives ran into the aisle and made his intentions known._

_“I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!”_

_Hevy ran up to Fives, not caring about any peacekeepers._

_“Fives? What are you doing?!” Hevy asked as he reached his brother._

_“Saving your life. Go find dad,” Fives said before Peacekeepers shoved Hevy out of the way and escorted Fives up to the stage. He was scared but tried not to show it for his brother’s sake._

_“I believe we have a volunteer,” the escort said as Fives was brought to the stage. District 5 doesn’t often have volunteers, although Fives is not the first volunteer the district has ever had, he’s certainly the youngest at only 15._

_“This year’s tributes, for the 68 th hunger games, from District 5!” The escort said as Fives looked at his district partner. He wasn’t sure if he would ever make it back to District 5, but he knew he stood a better chance than his 12-year-old brother. _

* * *

“Hevy!” Fives called out as he chased the sound like Anakin was for his mother. Padmé heard her sister's screams.

**“PADMÉ!”**

Padmé quickly realized there were no people, but the screams were coming from jabberjays. Jabberjays are birds designed by the Capitol to mimic what others are saying.

“They’re just jabberjays!” Padmé yelled.

“Where do you think they got that scream!?” Fives questioned as the three ran to the edge of the sector, towards their other allies. However, they soon realized they were trapped in that sector for the hour, forced to listen to the screams of Shmi, Sola, and Hevy.

After the hour was up, Ventress, Rex, Ahsoka, and Echo walked into the wedge.

“It’s not your brother, they wouldn’t dare hurt Hevy,” Echo said to Fives.

Everyone loves Shmi, Sola, and Hevy. Hurting them would cause an uprising. Forget the districts, there would be riots in the damn Capitol,” Ventress said.

Everyone looks at Ventress funny because everyone including Ventress knows they’re being watched by the Capitol.

“Hey! How does that sound Palpatine! What if we set your backyard on fire! You know, you can’t put everyone in here!” Ventress yells into the sky. After everyone continues looking at Ventress funny, she says “what? They can’t hurt me. There’s no one left that I love. Let’s get some water.”

Everyone looks at one another before following Ventress with the spile.

“We should make for the tree tonight,” Fives suggested. However, the suggestion didn't seem overly serious, he seemed like he wanted to get as far away from the jabberjay wedge as possible.

“We’d never have enough time, now we’d have to go the long way unless you wanna get eaten by monkeys. Tomorrow morning, we can go towards the cornucopia for supplies and avoid the jabberjays,” Echo says.

They set up camp but don’t make a fire, they don’t want to draw in Bo-Katan. To lighten the mood, they try to get to know one another better but the conversation inevitably drifts to the games. It’s the one thing they all have in common.

“I volunteered for my brother, Hevy. My district must have thought I was crazy, a 15-year-old volunteer, they were sure I was gonna die but Hevy would’ve died for sure and I’d do anything to save him and if that meant sacrificing myself, I’d do it without a second thought.”

“So, what got you to flirt with everyone though?” Padmé asked.

“It came naturally after my interview with Hondo, though I’m not a cold-blooded killer. I still remember each girl I killed in the arena and at least one thing I liked about them. The only girls I didn’t kill were the 12-year-old and the ones killed on the first day, including my district partner. They’d be glad to know that they haunt my nightmares. I killed every career girl and the career boy that was left on the same night. The District 1 and 4 boys died surprisingly early considering this was on the 4th day. You might criticize my tactics, but flirting can get you pretty far on the right people.” Fives said.

“I was terrified to go in, not gonna lie,” Ahsoka said. “I hid most of the games but I did manage to kill two people with a set of throwing knives I found in the backpack I picked up. I tried to hide for most of the games but then the gamemakers started a fire to draw me and the boy from 6 out of the woods. He was bigger than me, but I was faster. Hearing his screams as he burned to death were brutal but I had to keep running. Once he died the fire suddenly went out and I was crowned the victor. Though I still hear his screams in my nightmares.”

Padmé rubbed Ahsoka’s shoulder in an attempt to help her feel better.

“I don’t know about Anakin, but I hear the screams of the boy who was eaten by wolf mutts despite him trying to kill us," Padmé said.

“The games fucks us all up,” Rex said before continuing, “in my games I witnessed a girl get bludgeoned with a brick by one of the career tributes. I ran to escape and soon after a cannon went off, but I will never forget what I saw.”

“The year I went in, the arena was a tundra set up and the amount of frozen bodies was ridiculous. It was a so-called boring year because most people died from hypothermia,” Jesse said, putting the word boring into air quotes.

“That’s probably why mine was in an abandoned city since I won the games the year after you did. They wanted a more violent games,” Rex said.

A sponsor chime interrupted the conversation as a gift falls next to Jesse. He opens it, “Food, bread but it’s not tessera bread. I’d know that thing anywhere.”

“Same here,” Anakin said. A lot of families in Panem took out tesserae, often from poorer districts such as 10, 11, and 12. Tessera grain often produced lumpy, dense bread but that didn’t matter if you were starving.

Echo takes a look at it and immediately recognizes it, “District 3, the square-shaped rolls are a dead giveaway.”

The conversation shifted to lighter topics as the group ate the bread before everyone except Anakin and Padmé went to sleep.

“What do you think is gonna happen once Echo’s plan is finished?” Padmé asked.

“I think that’s when everyone turns on one another. I don’t want to have to kill Ahsoka or Rex, but I just might have to if they try to kill me” Anakin says.

“I’m talking more for us. We can’t pull the berries like we did last year,” Padmé said.

“I’d simply kill myself to let you win,” Anakin said in a heartbeat.

“No. I can’t let you do that,” Padmé said as she rested her head on Anakin’s shoulder for the nightly montage of dead tributes. Literally everyone except their alliance and Bo-Katan.

“I wonder if people like Echo or Jesse really knew their district partners. They never said anything about them after they died,” Anakin said.

“Maybe not, we’re only close with Obi-Wan because he had to be both our mentors but some of the other districts may have more victors. Echo was Hardcase’s mentor so obviously, 3 has more victors” Padmé said. 

“Maybe. It’s just not something I can imagine though,” Anakin says.

“I don’t know if I can either,” Padmé replies as she looks up at the night sky.

"Should we try to get away tomorrow?" Anakin asks abruptly. 

"What?"

"After tomorrow we're all gonna turn on each other, we can let everyone else fight it out," Anakin said. 

"No. We agreed to this plan, we need to see it through. How about this, we go through with the plan, and once it's done, if they start fighting, then we ditch them," Padmé suggested. 

Anakin didn't get a chance to speak on this idea before Ahsoka wakes up.

"Hey Ahsoka," Padmé said. 

"Hey," She said groggily. 

"Everything okay?" Anakin asks. 

"Yea, I just can't sleep, maybe one of you should get some sleep," Ahsoka said. 

"I can stay up," Anakin says to Padmé.

Ahsoka then sits with Anakin as Padmé decides to go to sleep.

“Padmé said she hears screams of a boy getting eaten by wolves in her nightmares. Do you too?” Ahsoka asked.

Normally Anakin wouldn’t open up to someone so quickly but something about Ahsoka made him immediately trust her. That probably explains why she trusted her and Rex so easily.

“Yes. I remember that night so vividly even though it was a year ago. Essentially, wolves came after us, boy from 2 got pushed off the cornucopia and got eaten. It was brutal but I wouldn’t want to hear someone be burned to death. Like Rex, said, it fucks us all up. Speaking of Rex, how are you two so close?” Anakin asked.

“Rex was my mentor and I was surprised that he didn’t treat me like a dead girl walking since I was not only 13 but also from District 8 who doesn’t have a lot of victors. We kinda hit it off from there, going to the capitol every year since. Going through shit like this helps the bonding process.” Ahsoka said with a chuckle. “It’s why we victors tend to make friends with each other.”

“So, were you friends with every member of this alliance except me and Padmé?”

“Yep, the only one I’m not really close with is Ventress. Me and Rex obviously, Fives treats me like a little sister, apparently, I remind him of his brother even though his brother is older than me. Jesse is friends with Rex, so we naturally became friends after I became a mentor. It’s the same situation with the other guys. Rex introduced me and we hit it off.”

“Do you think that would’ve happened to me and Padmé if this didn’t happen?” Anakin asked.

“I’m sure I would’ve made friends with you since I know Obi-Wan too,” Ahsoka said with a smile.

“Well, I wish these games didn’t happen. I’m sure we would’ve had a long friendship” Anakin said.

“I think so too,” Ahsoka said as she looked back at Anakin. The night was relatively uneventful as Ahsoka ended up falling asleep on Anakin’s shoulder. He let her sleep because they really didn’t need two people to keep watch with the number of tributes still alive.


	17. Electrifying The Nation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A twist of events causes the Quarter Quell to come to an abrupt end

Once the group wakes up for the morning, Echo leads the way to the cornucopia where everyone gets more weapons. Padmé picks up a few more arrows while Anakin takes another couple of spears. They observe the various traps but telling time is harder since the cornucopia is no longer pointing towards the tree. They decided to go into the temperate forest but soon realized their mistake.

"Run!" Anakin yelled as he noticed the fog starting to form in the trees.

They run through the forest as the fog comes towards them. The fog grazes Echo’s shoulder and Jesse’s hand as they managed to get away and land themselves into the meadow.   
“We’re gonna need to get out of here quickly if we want to not get stung by tracker jackers,” Rex said, remembering what happened last time they encountered the fog.

“We can get into the water for a bit,” Anakin says.

As Jesse and Echo get into the water, they initially yell in pain until they realize it’s soothing. Rex soon gets in the water with them and uses some of the remaining ointment to help heal their wounds, putting some on Echo’s shoulder and Jesse’s hand. The wounds instantly start to go away.

They make their way back to the temperate forest after they notice tracker jackers in the treeless meadow to pass some time to wait out the lightning storm in the grassland before preparing their plan.

The air is very tense because of this plan but Echo goes over the details once the lightning storm has passed.

“Alright, so Anakin, Fives, and I will prepare the tree, Jesse, Ahsoka and Rex will be responsible for making sure we stay alive while Padmé and Ventress will roll the wire out onto the beach.

“Hold on here, why can’t me and Padmé roll the wire?” Anakin asked.

“I don't want to risk anyone running off. Besides you all agreed to this, we need to see it through,” Echo said.

“Then why is Fives defending you? You two are close and neither of you has a district partner preventing you from running off,” Anakin pointed out.

“What’s it gonna matter, they’ll be back by nightfall anyways,” Fives said.

“Fine” Anakin said as Padmé and Ventress made their way with the wire and the rest prepared the tree for the night.

It took hours for Padmé and Ventress to wheel the wire out. The arena felt so large when they were moving from the tree on one side of the wedge to the beach on the other side and time seemed to pass so slowly with the lack of conversation between the two girls. However midway through, the wire gets caught and won’t come out anymore. Padmé goes back to see what it is caught on. She notices that a log is preventing her from rolling the wire out any further.

She pulls a little at it and the wire is not budging. She pulls a little harder and the wire breaks.

"Oh no," Padmé said, fearful for what might happen next. 

"What?!" Ventress grumbled. 

"This stupid log broke the wire," Padmé said. 

However, in the distance, Ventress sees Bo-Katan. Ventress quickly knocks out Padmé with the handle of her axe and viciously removes the tracker from Padmé’s arm with her teeth. She then smears some of the blood onto her neck but that does not deter Bo-Katan who engages Ventress rather than Padmé like she had planned. Ventress throws her axe at her and stops Bo-Katan in her tracks. The axe wedges itself in her chest and a cannon goes off.

* * *

Anakin heard the cannon as he, Ahsoka, Rex, Jesse, Fives, and Echo wait for Padmé and Ventress to return after wrapping wire around the tree.

**“PADMÉ!”** Anakin yells, unsure of where Padmé is at and fearing the worst.

Fives and Echo try to stop Anakin from searching but are no use as Anakin keeps running. No wonder Obi-Wan told them Padmé was easier to work with. Keeping Anakin alive had become a difficult chore but they did it anyway for Obi-Wan's sake.

“Want us to go after him?” Ahsoka asks as she and Rex were initially standing guard.

“Ahsoka, you go. Rex, Jesse, stay with me. I need to see this plan through, and that cannon could have been anyone,” Echo said.

Ahsoka ran through the field after Anakin but he is faster when he is panicked. When Ahsoka caught up to Anakin. They saw Padmé on the ground alone and the wire cut. She probably wasn’t dead if she hadn’t been picked up yet.

“Padmé,” Anakin pleads as Ahsoka tried to shake her awake.

She awakens to find Anakin and Ahsoka standing over her.

“Ani?” She asks.

“I’m just glad you’re alive,” Anakin says as he kisses Padmé. Ahsoka groans and looks away before saying “let’s get back to the tree, maybe then we might find Ventress.”

“What happened to your arm?” Anakin asks as he notices the huge gash.

“I don’t know, the wire got stuck, Ventress looked like she saw something and then she hit me with something. This gash was there when I woke up,” Padmé replied.

Anakin hugs Padmé, unsure of what to do to make Padmé’s wound go away as they prepare to walk back to the tree to find the others.

It is nighttime when they get back.

“Any sign of Ventress?” Ahsoka asks when they return.

“Nope” Rex replied as the nightly montage of tributes begins to play. The newest dead tribute is Bo-Katan, just as Ventress manages to find the group.

“The fuck did you do to Padmé?!” Anakin growled as he caught sight of Ventress.

“I saved her damn life so put the spear down,” Ventress growled back noticing Anakin had a spear ready to go.

“What the fuck are we supposed to do now, Bo-Katan is dead,” Anakin asks.

“I don’t know but you’re looking pretty killable right now” Ventress sneers as she steps closer to Anakin.

“Hey!” No fighting!” Rex yells as he steps in and places his sword between them.

“What does it matter! Bo-Katan is dead!” Ventress yells back as she shoves Rex to the ground.

* * *

Obi-Wan and Satine were watching the scene unfold when Bail Organa burst in.

“You need to go now. The capitol is on its way to arrest you and already killed Threepio after he had left the apartment yesterday.”

Satine gasped in shock and horror.

“Both you and Obi-Wan are in danger if you stay much longer. There's a hovercraft outside waiting for you but you only have 2 minutes" Bail said as he went back out.

Satine hesitates for a minute before taking Obi-Wan’s hand and leaving with him.

When they got outside, they were met by an unmarked hovercraft that will take them somewhere safe before picking up their valuable cargo in just a few hours. This will give Satine time to settle in to her new life outside of the Capitol and to come to terms with giving up some luxuries that were commonplace to capitol folk like her. 

"Where are we going?" Satine asks. 

"District 13, we're going to bring you there, you'll be met by their president, Mon Mothma, she will get you settled in while Obi-Wan and I go to pick up our tributes" Bail explains. 

Satine quietly nods as she puts her head on Obi-Wan's shoulder, falling asleep as the hovercraft gets moving.

* * *

Back in the arena, the clouds above the tree begin to churn while Ventress and Rex were fighting.

“Get away from that tree!” Fives yelled as he saw the cloud preparing to start the lightning storm. The other victors are itching to move away from the tree but Padmé wouldn’t listen. As Fives got closer, Anakin raised his spear at him. Fives put his hands up and his weapons down. He looks Anakin in the eyes, Anakin looks back at him, seeing the fearful expression on his face.

“Anakin, don’t throw it. Remember who the real enemy is," Fives desperately says.

* * *

President Palpatine watched this from the gamemaker’s room with Grievous nearby and said “let is fly young Skywalker. Let it fly.” 

"Whose idea was it to put the wire in?" Palpatine asked. 

"Organa's, sir," Grievous said before coughing uncontrollably for a few moments. 

"Interesting" Palpatine said before Grievous looked to see what was happening in the arena.

* * *

Anakin put his spear down but Padmé quickly wraps some wire around her arrow tip. Anakin and Fives both try to stop her.

“Padmé, get away from that tree” Fives exclaimed as he carefully walked away from the tree.

“Padmé no!” Anakin said, fearing for her life. However, Padmé didn’t care. She aimed her arrow into the sky, at the force field.

“Padmé!” Anakin called out as lighting began to come down. Padmé shot her arrow at the exact moment lightning hit the tree. It hit the forcefield, shattering it. The games were over with 8 people left. 

Everyone was knocked away from the tree and all became unconscious as 2 hovercrafts swooped in to extract the tributes. Both hovercrafts took 4 tributes. One hovercraft went towards the capitol, the other towards District 13. A district long thought to be destroyed by the capitol but had actually simply moved underground after seceding from Panem about 75 years ago.

* * *

Palpatine, still watching from the gamemaker’s room became furious after Padmé destroyed the arena and spilled the beans on the forcefields. She wasn’t the first tribute to figure it out or use it as a weapon, that tribute also happened to be from 12 but it still angered him nonetheless.

“ **Bail Organa!** ” Palpatine bellowed as he pushed Grievous out of the way.

“ **BAIL ORGANA!** ” Palpatine yelled as he left the room in search of the other gamemaker while he devised a sinister plan to take care of some rebellious districts like 12.

* * *

Palpatine had sent peacekeepers to District 12 for an operation that he wanted to oversee himself. He smiled as the peacekeepers set fire to the houses both in the merchant section and the seam. Peacekeepers stormed the Hob, setting fire to the whole place. The only place spared was Victor’s Village. Shmi, Cliegg, and Padmé’s family worked to get people out of 12, particularly the children and those would were struggling. As the Hob burned, Shmi found a childhood friend of hers who’s eye had been burned by the fire. Shmi quickly soaked a piece of cloth from her sleeve and placed it on her eye as she walked her out of the district, and into the woods where everyone else who had escaped was.

When she got out of the district, she found Padmé’s parents but noticed that Sola was missing.

“Where’s Sola?” Shmi asked.

“I don’t know,” Jobal said, panicking.

“Well, we need to find her,” Cliegg said as he took Ruwee and himself back into the burning district to find her.

Shmi and Jobal stood outside, worried for their husbands and for Sola as more people escape 12 and as they hear the screams of those who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. After a while, Cliegg and Ruwee emerge from the district with burns on their clothes but Shmi and Jobal were immediately relieved as they brought Sola as well as a few other citizens out with them. Jobal and Ruwee hugged Sola. They went on ahead to everyone as Cliegg whispers something, “it’s finally happening” Cliegg said.

“What? District 12 burning to the ground?” Shmi asked.

“Well, yes but that’s not what I meant. Whatever movement that started last year has finally caught the eye of the Capitol.”

“They’re obviously here to stop it, to send a message,” Shmi said.

“Yea but this time feels different. They’ve never went to such great lengths to punish the district before. I have a feeling that this won’t stop whatever it is that Anakin and Padmé started” Cliegg said as they caught up to the Naberries.

They waited outside 12, unsure what to do next until they see a hovercraft from above. They scatter, thinking it was the Capitol until they hear Obi-Wan’s voice.

“It is safe! We are not here to hurt you, we are bringing you to safety,” Obi-Wan said as the craft touched down. Everyone recognized him. Obi-Wan was a well-liked victor so they trusted him as they boarded the craft, bound for District 13. The hovercraft lands in District 13 and everyone on board who is awake disembarks except Obi-Wan, Bail, and the victors they managed to get from the arena.

* * *

Hours pass before Padmé wakes up. Her arm is bandaged up and she feels a little loopy. She’s unsure where she’s at so she takes the syringe she noticed as a weapon in case she needs it. She walks to the door of the next room where she overhears an argument going down, she looks through the window of the door to see what's going on.

“You promised me when I joined this thing that Hevy would be safe, that my actions in the arena wouldn't end up hurting him and now he’s in the Capitol?! What part of the Capitol is safe right now?!” Fives said angrily.

“Fives we tried to get him out of 5 but the Capitol must have got to him first,” Bail said, trying to calm him down. 

Fives walks around in a small circle, seething with anger before saying “You had one job! I literally had one condition for joining this and you went back on it. Because of you, my brother could be in danger because of my actions in that arena, that I did for your cause. I hope you can sleep well knowing an innocent life is at stake because of all of this!” Fives stormed out of the room. He passed Padmé and said “oh hi Padmé” as he went to look for the hovercraft’s exit. That blew her cover since Padmé was sure Obi-Wan and Bail had heard Fives say hello to her.

“Glad to see you’re awake” Obi-Wan politely said.

“Where’s Anakin?” Padmé asked.

Obi-Wan looked down at the floor before saying “we don’t know. He had his tracker in his arm up until an hour ago, the signal from the trackers of those we haven’t found cut out around the same time. Ventress cut yours out before you blew up the arena. Unfortunately, this means we cannot know for certain where Anakin, Ventress, Rex, or Jesse are but I'm sure we can speculate”.

“You promised me that you would try to keep Anakin safe! The longer he’s missing the less safe he is!” Padmé demanded before then asking, “what’s going on? Are you going to find him?” Padmé asked.

“We’ll try,” Obi-Wan said in an attempt to calm her down.

“Answer my other question then. What’s going on?”

“We couldn’t tell you earlier because of Palpatine breathing down yours and Anakin’s necks. But I assure you the mission was always to get you two out of the arena. Your alliance was in on it, every single one of them except for you two. As was Obi-Wan, Artoo, Threepio, and the two victors he personally introduced you to, Hardcase and Tup. Your alliance's job was to keep you two alive whether even if that meant dying for you two" Bail said before he took a deep breath. He then continued.

"This is the revolution, ”Bail said, emphasizing each word.

“We are currently on our way to District 13,” Obi-Wan said.

“District 13? Wasn’t that district long destroyed?” Padmé asked.

“Yes, but also no” Bail said. “The population lives underground.”

* * *

Meanwhile, Anakin awoke in a white room. There were bars on the outside of the room and he was on a small, uncomfortable cot. He looked down at his outfit, he was no longer in his arena outfit, but rather a white jumpsuit. The doors to his cage opened up to reveal two peacekeepers and what appears to be a detective. The detective’s intentions become more sinister as a peacekeeper hooks up some electrodes to Anakin. Afterward, the detective presses a button, sending high voltage electric shocks through Anakin’s body causing him to scream in agony. The shocks stopped for a moment as Anakin began to breathe heavily and try to think happy thoughts of Padmé and his mother to help deal with the immense pain of being electrically shocked multiple times.


End file.
